


Breath and Being

by ten9



Series: Heaven Haven [2]
Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-13
Updated: 2011-06-13
Packaged: 2017-10-20 09:03:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 26,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/211056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ten9/pseuds/ten9
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Author’s notes: In answer to the emails I’ve been getting; who is Lady Greystoke/Kathleen Clayton? She looks an awful lot like Lucy Lawless. I never saw the ill-fated series, Tarzan, but I have seen some of Lucy’s headshots from that series and liked her look and the character’s bio.</p><p>(These characters are owned by their respective studios and producers; I make no profit from these stories, they are provided for personal use only and remain the copyright of the author. They may not be reproduced either in whole, in part or posted elsewhere without permission.)</p>
    </blockquote>





	Breath and Being

**Author's Note:**

> Author’s notes: In answer to the emails I’ve been getting; who is Lady Greystoke/Kathleen Clayton? She looks an awful lot like Lucy Lawless. I never saw the ill-fated series, Tarzan, but I have seen some of Lucy’s headshots from that series and liked her look and the character’s bio.
> 
> (These characters are owned by their respective studios and producers; I make no profit from these stories, they are provided for personal use only and remain the copyright of the author. They may not be reproduced either in whole, in part or posted elsewhere without permission.)

_"She fights and vanquishes in me, and I live and breathe in her..."_

\- Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 ****

 _“Mom?”_

 _Ashley was clearly back in control and when the super-abnormal began to struggle the characteristic look of determination slammed down hard over the apology in her eyes and she turned; slamming back the abnormal’s wrist, she teleported away through the sanctuary’s magnetic shield and disintegrated them both_ _in an explosion of flaming plasma._

 _  
“NO!”_

 

Janet lay snuggled against her chest and Helen buried her nose in the short-cropped blond hair, inhaling the faint smell of shampoo. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut but the horrific images played on in her mind’s eye, over and over with relentless cruelty,

 

 _“Mom?”_

 _Ashley was clearly back in control and when the super-abnormal began to struggle the characteristic look of determination slammed down hard over the apology in her eyes and she turned; slamming back the abnormal’s wrist, she teleported away through the sanctuary’s magnetic shield and disintegrated them both_ _in an explosion of flaming plasma._

 _  
“NO!” Helen shouted, “No!”_

 

The lips she pressed into Janet’s soft hair trembled violently and she pulled the small sleeping form more tightly against her…

 

 _“Mom?”_

 

An anguished cry broke from deep in her chest and Janet woke, “Helen?” she murmured softly. Helen wept and Janet slid upwards in her embrace until she could pull her into her arms. _“Shh…”_ she whispered softly into dark tresses, _“easy now…”_

 

“It won’t stop,” she sobbed, “it won’t stop… it keeps playing in my head over and over,” she rasped in a desperate  voice, her throat twisted closed in pain, “like a broken record and I can’t make it stop.”

 

Janet’s heart broke and tears spilled from her eyes. _“I know my love.”_ she whispered tremulously, _“I know…”_

 

She raised her head enough to see the clock on the nightstand, it was after three, _She probably hasn’t slept at all..._ she sighed and smoothed a hand over Helen’s slightly fevered cheek and brushed the long dark hair from her face.

 

In the days and nights that followed Ashley’s funeral and Janet’s return, Helen’s body finally succumbed to her injuries and grief and she took to her bed, allowing Janet and Bigfoot to fuss over her meals and medication. Both women spent time together in their daughter’s room, talking and laughing in quiet tones, remembering fun times and family outings. But as acceptance and the full impact of their daughter’s death filled Helen’s heart and intellect and she embraced the truth, her mind and body surrendered utterly, and in spite of the larger meals Janet and Bigfoot coaxed her to eat the vertigo-like sensations returned, and her injuries stopped showing improvement.

 

At first, she slept deeply in Janet’s embrace, allowing the exhaustion to take her deep in slumber. But the long repressed trauma of seeing her daughter perish before her eyes surfaced and each night she would hold Janet tightly in her arms, as though she were a magical talisman she could brandish against the haunting vision of Ashley’s death. Repeatedly, the gruesome scene would play in her mind’s eye and she was forced to watch their daughter exploding in a hail of flaming plasma over and over. But squeezing her eyes more tightly closed and holding Janet even closer only made the scene play faster, with relentless cruelty until her pleading cries of surrender woke the small figure in her arms and she wept with renewed loss and grief.

 

 _“I’m so sorry you saw that...”_ Janet whispered tearfully, _“So sorry, my love….”_   She sniffed, placing a quaking kiss on her head and when she tucked the covers around them, she noticed how Helen tucked her right arm tightly against her chest. Keeping her right arm wrapped around her, she placed her left hand over Helen’s right and squeezed softly. When Helen did not object, she continued the gentle massage up her wrist and forearm.

 

Janet had removed the stitches from Helen’s upper arm after ten days and the four healed-over lacerations left by Ashley’s long slashing talons were raised and red and angry-looking. When an additional six weeks had passed, she took x-rays of Helen’s fractured forearm and both women agreed the slowly mending fractures needed an additional two weeks before removing the fiberglass cast. Once removed, both Janet and Bigfoot had insisted on gently massaging the weakened limb, but Helen’s grief left her so vulnerable to pain that the strength-building physical therapy sessions often reduced her to tears, and Janet privately worried that the delayed mourning slowing her recovery would lead to dangerous, permanent consequences.

 

When Will presented her with the choice, Kate Freelander decided to stay on at the sanctuary, and when the group came together at mealtimes and evening hours, he gently steered the conversation from a rehashing of the day’s events to encouraging the group to share funny stories about Ashley and life in the sanctuary. Henry had loved Ashley like a sister; Bigfoot loved her like a daughter, and the psychiatrist in Will knew that sharing memories of Ashley together as a family helped not only them, but would also help Kate find her place in the sanctuary while the group mourned and integrated the loss and healing into their lives. Ashley’s parents, however, were having a much more difficult time, and Will was concerned for them both.

 

Helen’s cries faded and she sniffed, rolling away to grabbed a tissue from the box on the nightstand, _“I’m sorry…”_ she rasped, her voice raw.

 

Janet propped herself on an elbow and wiped the tears from her face, “Don’t apologize…” she pulled Helen back onto the pillow and clasped her wrist, “Will said to take it slow… and if we feel the loss together,” she shrugged, “it’s a part of…”

 

“There is _nothing_ healthy or healing about…” Helen sputtered quietly, “about seeing Ashley…”

 

Janet stroked her face, turning it towards her, “It’s _trauma_ , Helen.” she reminded her, “You’ve been terribly, _terribly_ traumatized, and unfortunately this is the only way to process that horrible day…” she stroked the face, _“I’m sorry, my love…”_ she whispered tremulously, _“Will’s right, it’s the only way.”_ She placed a kiss on her brow, “But _it will_ get better.”

 

Helen nodded and swiped at her tear-stained face, “Only because you’re here.” she whispered, and pressed close against Janet’s chest.

 

***

 

Kathleen snuggled in her arms, peering from the depths of the warm blanket Aeryn had wrapped around them and stared up at the brilliantly lit night sky,

 

“I only get to see the stars shine this bright when I go camping,” she smiled up at her, “and you get to see them every night.” She stroked the slim muscular arms wrapped around her, “I’d never get tired of looking at this.”

 

Aeryn’s smile was both indulgent and skeptical as she tucked her chin to look at her, “I get the hint, Kath,” she smiled, “I really do.”

 

“But you are the head of house now,” Kathleen turned in the large blanket and nuzzled the leonine neck, “you need a protégé, you said so…”

 

“I do at that… although you’d be more like a second in command.” Aeryn sighed, “And I know you want the job…” she fixed her gaze on a distant star for a long moment before pushing Kathleen into a sitting position on the chaise lounge that sat on the sanctuary’s turreted roof. Keeping the large blanket wrapped around them, she looked earnestly into the darkly illuminated eyes, “but we’re lovers now…”

 

“And why is that a problem?”

 

Aeryn licked her lips and plunged ahead, “Because I am in love with you, my Lady Greystoke.” she murmured quietly and brushed the backs of her fingers against a downy soft cheek. “I want an intimate relationship with you first and foremost…”

 

“So do I!” Kathleen flashed a bright smile.

 

“And I don’t want to risk that.”

 

“And what would the risk involve?”

 

“I don’t want to risk having what happened to Janet and Helen’s relationship happen to us.”

 

Kathleen regarded her silently for a moment then sighed, “You’re afraid either your leadership or our relationship would falter under the strain of your worrying about my safety?”

 

“I think I understand what Helen Magnus went through,” she sighed, “and perhaps you  missed the part where I confessed to being in love with you just now, but if you were injured or… or worse…”

 

“And what if the same happened to you?” Kathleen’s brows arched high, “Aeryn, I love you; I want to be here with you in your sanctuary of extraordinary beings.” Her sigh mirrored Aeryn’s and her head tilted to one side as she regarded her lover, “Have I been that much of liability on your abnormal hunts and investigations?”

 

“No…” Aeryn shook her head decisively, “you’ve done very well so far…” a sly grin tugged at the corner of her mouth and she added, “For a member of the aristocracy, anyway….” Kathleen laughed and stood, pulling Aeryn to her feet and into her arms,

 

“My parents are horrified enough thinking I might be moving to live and work in a secret laboratory packed with strange creatures tucked away in the Canadian wilderness.”

 

Kathleen stood two inches taller than Aeryn and she tilted her head back and to one side as she gazed up into dark blue eyes. An amused snort of derision escaped her lips, “Oh please,” her grinned widened, “my parents will _never_ let me live it down that I live with a viscountess… in spite of all your college degrees and that you sold your media empire to that massive liberal website.”

 

“Mmm, yes,” Kathleen agreed and placed a kiss on her lips, “we did have a rather strained Christmas dinner that year.”

 

“Kath,” Aeryn brushed her thumb over the full lips, “I’ve had ‘friends with benefits’ over the years, but only as a release… a temporary comfort, my goal has always been to find love… I don’t want to be your fuck-buddy, Kathleen Clayton, I love you and I want all of you…”

 

“Then please believe me, Aeryn Sun,” she clasped the upturned face in still warm hands, “I love you, and you can have all of me whether you let me be your assistant or not.”

 

***

 

“I’d say it’s rather a _renewed_ interest in the phenomenon since the success of that novel, Janet.” Helen sipped her tea, her tone dismissive, “I mean _really_ , if there’s anything to the rumor it’s probably an elemental abnormal and certainly not some mystical manifestation held over from the time of the Merovingians…” she motioned briefly with her fork, “Good morning, Will.”

 

“Good morning,” he greeted them when he entered and took a seat at the table, “and what was that about… _Merovingians?”_ he asked as he pulled the cloth napkin into his lap and briefly regarded the hot breakfast he brought with him.

 

Kate sat across from him, looking lost; “Got _no_ idea…” she muttered, clearly fighting the urge to roll her eyes.

 

The corners of Janet’s lips twitched and she swallowed, “It’s a unique glowing phenomenon that has been appearing with greater frequency in the cathedral at Chartres.”

 

“Glowing?” Will shot her a quick look as he dove into his bacon and eggs, “So it’s what?”

 

“No one knows,” Helen poured herself another cup of tea, “but it most certainly is _not_ a dead Merovingian king nor the ghost of the Count of Blois come to reveal the descendant of Jesus…”

 

 _“Wow,”_ Will’s eyebrows arched high, “did this story just go all da Vinci Code?”

 

“I don’t think so…” Janet shrugged but Helen interrupted her,

 

“Oh for heaven’s sake, Janet…” Helen sat back in her chair, “even _you_ can’t honestly believe the Black Madonna is emanating some sort of…”

 

Will’s eyebrows arched even higher, “Uh… what? I’m sorry; did you say a _black_ Madonna?”

 

“Yes,” Janet pushed the empty plate from her and dragged her cup and saucer of tea closer, “there are about five hundred Black Madonnas throughout Europe, and lots of those are in France… painted in wood or carved in stone…. Most date between the 11th and 15th centuries, and devotees make pilgrimages to them and associate them with miracles and healing.”

 

“Which is _absurd…”_ Helen muttered and Janet threw her a tolerant, affectionately scornful look,

 

 _“However,”_ she continued, “There are many scholars who believe the Black Madonna is a link to religions that existed long before Christianity since her shrines are often in locations that were once pagan shrines to Diana, Artemis of Ephesus, Cybele and other goddesses.”

 

“Really?” Will asked, intrigued, although he caught Kate’s crossed eyes when she looked at him and he slammed his lips together to keep from laughing.

 

“Mmm,” Janet sipped her steaming tea, “some of the figures look just like the Egyptian goddess Isis with her infant son Horus, showing the influence of old ways on changing faiths at the time. She may even represent the archetypal Earth Mother, the ancient, eternal power of the feminine force…”

 

“Which is where the whole da Vinci thing would kick in…” Will offered and Kate stood,

 

“I should go see what Hank and Biggie are up to…” she hooked a thumb over her shoulder and quickly left the room.

 

“Well,” Janet threw Helen a small knowing grin at Kate’s departure, “they have certainly conveyed a sense of depth and mystery. But of the two Black Madonnas in Chartres, the Notre Dame de Pilar is a 16th-century copy of a figure from the 13th, and she stands on a high pillar in a side chapel of the cathedral, surrounded by candles….”

 

“And the candle flames have been known to flicker _wildly_ ,” Helen cut in, her voice decidedly skeptical, “when no breeze is present in the room.”

 

Janet chuckled, _Some things never change…_ “Yes, there’s that, but there’s also an inexplicably high EMF in the chapel as well…”

 

“So?” Will shrugged.

 

“So there’s no electrical wiring in the part of the cathedral to account for such a high electromagnetic field.”

 

“That does _not_ mean the phenomenon is supernatural...” Helen insisted.

 

Janet shot her a look that was a teasing challenge, “But it _could._ ”

 

Helen pressed her lips together in mock vexation, “But it most certainly is more likely an abnormal…”

 

“Like what?’ Will asked, finishing his breakfast and admitting privately that mealtime conversations in the sanctuary had become even more interesting and lively since Janet’s arrival.

 

Helen sighed, vanquished, “I’ve investigated Chartres before,” she admitted, her eyebrows arching at Janet’s, “It was a _very_ long time ago, before the war…” she noted Will’s questioning look and answered, “and that would be before the _first_ world war…”

 

“I didn’t say anything…” he muttered to Janet and Helen continued,

 

“And while it’s true that many scholars believe the Black Madonnas are a celebration of feminine power or an expression of the feminine aspect of the divine, the claims about this _particular_ Madonna date back to the 13th century and they mainly involve a glowing light that emanates from the figure and heals people.” She sniffed, “As if that’s possible...” she muttered under her breath, earning another arched brow from Janet.

 

“So….” Will’s voice faded briefly as he digested the information, “they think the statue is magical or divine somehow and you think it’s an abnormal?”

 

“I _did,”_ Helen conceded, staring down into her teacup, “but I never found anything.” She noted how Janet again arched an eyebrow in teasing disbelief and she added, if begrudgingly, “I never saw the light that people have reported seeing… and it was only because Nikola made a more portable EMF meter for me that I even discovered the inexplicably high magnetic field in the chapel actually emanated from the statue…” She finished and sat back in her seat, her hands folded in her lap.

 

“Okay,” Will wiped his mouth on the napkin and waved a hand, “So this light is coming out and healing people, does the pope or somebody have a problem with that?’

 

“Not at all…” Helen shook her head, “In fact they approve, although the Vatican will only officially state that the Black Madonna is a holy relic and will not make any claims as to her ability to heal people or emit glowing lights or…”

 

“But the reports are that this phenomenon is happening more frequently,” Janet interjected, “so Helen and I are going to see if we can determine if it _is_ an abnormal…”

 

“And if it is?” Will asked.

 

“Well,” Helen sighed and pushed her chair back from the table, “if it _is_ an abnormal it hasn’t hurt anyone, and no one is frightened by it…”

 

“So…” Will looked at her, shaking his head in confusion.

 

“If it is an abnormal I just want to make sure it actually wants to be there, seven hundred years may or may not be a long time for a sentient being to be trapped in a cathedral. If it is a sentient abnormal, and if we can establish contact, perhaps we can discover if it’s there willingly.”

 

“And help free it if it’s not.” Janet finished and rose from the table, piling her cup and saucer on her plate and picked up both.

 

“So when do we leave?” Will asked.

 

“Well,” Helen smiled, “Janet and I are leaving this afternoon and you will be in charge of things here…”

 

“What about the reports of the oversized superhero that’s been appearing in Old City?”

 

“That one’s all yours…” Helen’s smile widened as she and Janet left the room.

 

***

 

“I would have been happy to have this quickie in the lab’s toilet…” Kathleen insisted, snickering as Aeryn pulled her into their bedroom, _“_ Really _-uh!”_ she grunted as Aeryn half-pulled half threw her onto their bed and climbed on top of her.

 

 _“Mmm,”_ Aeryn hummed as she kissed her and worked her hands into the taller woman’s clothes, “But here you have clean clothes to change into afterward.” She freed a luscious breast from Kathleen’s bra and suckled wildly on the already stiffened point and tightly puckered areola, making Kathleen moan and arch on the mattress. Aeryn deftly unbuttoned and unzipped her pants and made quick work of sliding her hand inside the silken panties and between even silkier folds, _“And you’ll need them…”_ she rasped, feeling the room tilt slightly when her questing fingers sank into a pool of hot cum.

 

While Aeryn feasted and fondled her flesh Kathleen panted and moaned with arousal and the effort she expended shedding her clothes. She loved the struggle and the smile never left her face as they tussled on the bed to strip and maintain the erotic contact. When both women were finally nude, Kathleen pulled from Aeryn’s grasp and laughed, grabbing and yanking the bedcovers down while Aeryn dove between her legs,

 

 _“Ohh… my… good god,”_ Kathleen's eyes slammed shut as Aeryn’s tongue plunged without mercy into her pounding center. _“Oh god…”_ she curled forward, her hand clasping the back of Aeryn’s head, encouraging her wantonly thrusting tongue further inside her body. _“Oh Aeryn…”_ she moaned low in her chest, _“Oh Aeryn I’m gonna… I’m gonna come so…”_   she grunted, her hips bucking with abandon, _“so… so h-h-hardnugh!”_ she fell back onto the pillows as Aeryn’s thumb sought out her rock-hard clit and she lapped loudly at the flood of creamy cum and rigid fluttering folds.

 

Aeryn growled into the quaking flesh and sucked the engorged folds into her mouth, raking the edge of her teeth over the rigid structures and feasted with feral delight at the sounds of Kathleen’s escalating keening cries, _This is why we can’t make love in the loo…_ Aeryn thought distantly as Kathleen’s body suddenly stiffened and she convulsed rigidly beneath her in an explosive orgasm. Aeryn slid her open mouth over the spurting opening and she hummed and feasted in delight as thick squirts of sweet ejaculate exploded in her mouth. The tall convulsing woman ejaculated heavily and Aeryn hungrily devoured the copious nectar that burst from her, the sinewy muscles flexing as she hung on while Kathleen shouted and keened and whimpered in release.

 

Lady Greystoke lay in a limp, boneless mass on the bed, smiling although tears slid from the corners of her eyes. When Aeryn finished licking away every trace of ejaculate and creamy cum she crawled over the recumbent form until she could lay her length on top of her and licked inside her mouth,

 

“You are magnificent when you come.” She smiled down at her, “and since we still have work to do,” she climbed off the bed despite Kathleen's weakly clutching hands, “and while you are still enjoying some afterglow…’

 

“Oh I am…” Kathleen smiled from her place on the bed, “are you quite sure we don’t have the time for you to…”

 

Aeryn returned to the bed with her favorite double dildo in one hand and a large vibrating egg in the other, _“I’m quite sure I can be quick….”_ she grinned and crawled back onto the bed, kneeling  between Kathleen’s feet when she got on all fours and pulled two pillows beneath her. _“Excellent…”_ Aeryn breathed, placing a hand on Kathleen’s pert backside for support while she spread her knees on the bed and inserted the curved end of the large pearl-white toy inside her depths, her eyes fluttering when she nestled the ribbed silicone toy deep inside her clenching inner walls. Her eyes were half-lidded when she beheld the flood of renewed desire that flooded between Kathleen’s florid folds and ran between her quaking inner thighs,

 

 _“Oh please, Aeryn…”_ Kathleen whispered hoarsely, _“please fuck me…”_ she begged, knowing the erotic profanity would hurry her.

 

Aeryn’s breath grew short and she hurried to insert the end of the long shaft in Kathleen’s dripping center. She intended to tease the entrance until Kathleen begged her for mercy, but the sight of her quivering rounded backside and open center and her lows moans and cries eroded her resolve and she thrust her hips and buried the entire eleven inches inside Kathleen's body. Kathleen’s head arched back and she groaned long and hard as Aeryn gripped her trembling hips and slammed the cock hard in her depths, reveling in the sounds of wet and the loud slapping produced from her pelvis slamming hard into Kathleen’s backside. Amid the grunts and groans, Kathleen managed to cry out,

 

 _“I’m gonna’… come!”_

 

Aeryn immediately pulled the cock free, making a ragged cry tear from Kathleen’s throat. Kathleen knew what Aeryn wanted and she obeyed when Aeryn pushed on her backside, pushing her onto the stacked pillows beneath. Aeryn moaned aloud when she looked down at the cum-coated cock and Kathleen’s cream that threatened to drip from the end and she quickly parted the muscled mounds and slid the cock into Kathleen’s tight rear channel. She pressed her lips together at Kathleen’s low moans and settled on her arching backside. She clenched the toy inside her own depths and squeezed her legs together, afraid the dildo would fall out in the gush of her slippery cum that spilled around the toy. She grabbed the large vibrating clit egg and slid it under and between Kathleen’s legs, turning it on full-strength before thrusting lustily inside the hungry rear channel.

 

Kathleen’s eyes opened wide at the intrusion and the overwhelming sensation of having her rear channel filled to capacity and she grunted and cried out, her voice wavering as Aeryn pumped the large silicone toy. She gripped the sheet in tight fists and ground her clit on the vibrating clit egg, the returning orgasm taking her over the edge. She moaned and cried out as she shook with the hot convulsive waves, groaning and crying weakly when she felt Aeryn’s arms surround her and her thumbs and fingers pinch and twist her nipples while she banged the cock into her body without mercy.

 

 _“Oh fuck me Aeryn!”_ she begged, _“Fuck me! Harder! Fuck me harder!”_

 

 _“Fuck you where?”_ Aeryn growled and lay her full weight on her; in this position, the double-ended toy rubbed against her clit and between that sensation and the feel of the toy within rocking and banging against her g-spot and their combined cries and sounds of pounding, slapping wet combined to create an orgasm that escalated like a shattering earthquake.

 

 _“F-f-fuck my ass!”_ Kathleen cried, whimpering and crying, _“Uhn uhnnugh! F-fuck me in the… nugh-ass!”_

 

Aeryn’s grin was feral and she gritted her teeth and continued to wildly pump the shaft, waiting for Kathleen’s’ orgasm to end before indulging in her own. When the convulsing body beneath hers finally slowed and she sobbed for mercy, Aeryn renewed her thrusts once again, and gripping the wide hips in tightly gripping hands, she slammed the silicone cock as deep as it would go and roared her release into the damp flesh of Kathleen’s straining back. Her body stiffened as the climax shook her endlessly, and she gasped and shouted and grunted and tears finally spilled from her eyes before the orgasm finally released her.

 

 _“Please…”_ Kathleen sobbed quietly, _“oh please…”_ she begged, the vibrating egg had grown hot and she ached to pull her burning, throbbing clit free.

 

Aeryn shakily pushed back onto her heels and roughly pulled the toy free. Kathleen moaned loudly at the removal and obeyed the hands that rolled her off the stacked pillows and vibrator and onto her back and she gulped in tearful relief. _“Oh god…”_ she moaned, licking her lips when she saw Aeryn pull the cock from her own depths and placed the dripping curved end in her mouth. She moaned and sucked the length deep inside, her eyes closing when she swallowed Aeryn’s cum, savoring the taste.

 

Aeryn was still breathing hard, watching her lover accept the toy coated with her cum that she thrust in her willing mouth and felt her center pound demandingly. The dildo made a wet plopping noise when she pulled it from Kathleen’s feasting lips and she tossed it to the floor, quickly crawling over and straddling her mouth, she ground wildly on the thrusting tongue. She gripped the headboard in clenched fists and came again, her urethral sponge squirting loudly while Kathleen swallowed and growled in carnal satisfaction. Her hips bucked and jerked stiffly in concert with the ejaculate exploding from her and her grunts and low moans gradually slowed, transforming into shaky gasps and sighs.

 

She let Kathleen feed languorously between her legs while her breath and heart rate slowed and when she finally crawled back down the long lanky length she smiled tiredly and placed a deep kiss in the tall woman’s mouth,

 

“That, my love,” she sighed, grinning lopsidedly, “is precisely why we _cannot_ make love in the toilet.”

 

***

 

Helen refused to admit she was exhausted but she let Janet make the hour the drive in the rental car from Paris to Chartres. They were mostly quiet as they drove, each woman lost in her own thoughts and memories of past family trips with their daughter, and occasionally one would reach for the other’s hand. Driving into the cathedral town, they passed half-timbered houses as Janet deftly negotiated narrow streets that lead to either the church or the Eure River. Once they exited the car they linked arms and held hands as they walked, and when Janet raised her eyes to the flying buttresses she sighed expressively,

 

“It is a wonder to behold, isn’t it?” she murmured in a quiet voice, regarding the specially designed gothic structures that surrounded the church, providing support for the impossibly high ceilings and tall windows.

 

“Mmm-hmm,” Helen agreed, squeezing the hand and arm she held close.

 

They entered and slowly walked the length of the nave, their voices hushed as they gazed up at the more than ten thousand figures depicted in a hundred and seventy-six stained glass windows. They walked along the ambulatory at the east end that wrapped around the choir and sanctuary; the former dramatically vaulted and divided from the latter by a magnificently carved choir screen bedecked with two hundred carved figures in forty separate scenes depicting the lives of Mary and Christ .

 

“So,” Helen sighed as they came to stop in front of the elevated black Madonna, a woodcarving wrapped in a gown of gold, “there she is.”

 

“And there you are…”

 

They both turned at the sound of the gentle voice and Helen crossed the chapel, her hand outstretched to the older man who approached,

 

“Monsieur Delagneaux…”

 

He clasped the offered hand warmly, “Oh please…” he scoffed, his English flawless in spite of the soft French accent, “call me Claude.”

 

Helen introduced Janet to the cathedral’s concierge and he motioned for them to follow, “If you please, I must ring the noon bell and I hoped you would assist me?”

 

“Absolutely…” Helen assured him and he led them through the great cathedral and up the long winding staircase to the bell tower.

 

“I am very glad you could come,” he spoke easily as they climbed, “the incidents are becoming more frequent in that now the event seems to happen on an almost daily basis.” He turned to them as he climbed, his hand resting lightly on the handrail, “Do you really think the phenomenon may be a sentient being?”

 

“Well,” Helen cleared her throat, trying to neither pant nor regret not exercising during her convalescence, “I do think it’s possible, either way, establishing contact is the only way to find out.

 

“Well,” he turned back to the stairs, “If it turns out to be a form of intelligent life I hope it’s been happy here… there are countless people who have had their lives given back to them after being healed in that sanctuary.”

 

“Hmm,” Helen hummed noncommittally, “yes… and I am grateful Bishop Trotteur has allowed this investigation tonight.”

 

“It is our pleasure, although he told you I will not be here? I have a dental procedure in Grasse…” he pointed to his mouth, “I have family there so I am going to stay with them for a few days, but I will leave the keys with you this evening and you can give them to my assistant when he arrives in the morning.”

 

“Yes,” Helen nodded, “that would be Jean?”

 

“Oui… I mean, yes…” he opened the door to the bell room, “that is his name… ah…” he checked his watch, we have one more minute to go.”

 

“Oh my...” Janet grasped Helen’s hand when she saw the magnificent bronze bell and the spectacular view that opened before them. _I wish Ashley could be here…_ she thought, and swallowed the lump from her throat.

 

“Isn’t it beautiful?” Helen murmured, squeezing the smaller hand in hers.

 

“You can see the river from here,” he walked along the stone walkway, pointing through the open arches as he checked his watch again, “but please,” he motioned to the bell, “would you mind?”

 

Janet’s face beamed as she pulled Helen to the seesaw-like platform that rang the bell, “Oh, not at all,” she assured him, “what do we do?”

 

He positioned the pair on opposite ends of the seesaw and patted the horizontal bar that separated them, “Hold here.” he said and stepped on Janet’s end, pushing down. “There you go…” he smiled, “keep it going now…”

 

Helen and Janet clung to the bar and rode the wooden platform like a teeter-totter, and both broke into huge smiles when the great bronze bell started to ring beneath them, their laughter lost in the deep rich tone that reverberated through their bodies. The concierge’s smile was beatific as he watched them, sharing in their joy and laughter as the wind blew through their hair.

 

He crossed his arms and leaned against the stone wall and counted the each time the bell rang until he got to ten then motioned to them; he took Janet by the hand and helped first her then Helen from the platform and the bell immediately slowed to a stop, only ringing twice more,

 

“There,” he smiled, “it is now twelve o’clock.”

 

They chatted some more as they made their way back down the great stone staircase and back to the choir screen. Erected in the 16th century, sculptures were added to the chancel screen over a two hundred year period, and he walked to the center of the magnificent structure and opened a secret door, making both Helen’s and Janet’s brows arch in surprise,

 

“This is my room…” he told them as he ushered them inside, “Since I will not be here I thought it would be an excellent place for you to put your equipment and conduct your investigation from.” Sparsely furnished, the room held only a narrow bed, small table, oil lamp and boxes of candles. “Here,” he motioned to a small window, disguised in the screen and parted the heavy black drapes. Helen and Janet stepped forward and when they looked through it, they could see the black Madonna,

 

 _Now this is a man living by constant meditation…_ Janet thought, greatly moved by the small room and simple furnishings hidden in the middle of such an amazing place.

 

“There is a concert in the nave late this afternoon, but then the staff will clear and secure the building and you will be alone until the morning.” He turned to them, “I’m sorry the bed is so small.”

 

“Not at all,” Helen shook her head, “thank you.”

 

They thanked him profusely for such kind consideration for their comfort and left him to finish his duties for the day. They dined at the café across the street and when Janet asked for two meals suitable for a picnic basket, the owner proudly presented them with an actual basket complete with two dinners, two deserts and two glasses and a corkscrew for the bottle of wine packed inside.

 

As the afternoon wore on, they took their time carrying their instrument cases to the concierge’s room behind the choir screen, leaving their dinner on the table and familiarized themselves with the layout of the church, taking discrete baseline measurements of the electromagnetic fields, both inside the black Madonna’s sanctuary and the rest of the cathedral. As they explored they spoke in low tones,

 

“You have to admit a point nine is significant…” Standing on the ladder, Janet looked from her EMF meter she held near the black Madonna down to Helen, who held her arms wrapped securely around her legs.

 

She lifted a shoulder in a half-shrug, “It’s very near the baseline I recorded…” she glanced around at the tourists who regarded them, “back then…” she finished somewhat lamely.

 

Janet turned to the young woman who brought them the ladder from the cathedral’s workshop that worked tirelessly to maintain and preserve the church’s art and architecture, “I need to check under the gown for wiring…” she pointed over her shoulder, “do I need to wear gloves or anything?”

 

The woman nodded and pulled a pair of latex gloves from the back pocket of her jeans. Janet thanked her and pulled them on, “So let’s just verify that there are no electrical wires or transmitters of any kind under this magnificent…” her voice faded as she carefully lifted the gown from the statue and peered underneath, her fingers gently palpating the material adorned with actual gold woven into the fabric. “There are absolutely no electrical or radio devices hidden either within or under the robe…” she pulled the EMF meter from the pocket of her overcoat and held the instrument close to the material, “Although gold is a conductor of electricity it cannot generate it out of thin air.” She carefully rearranged the golden robe and held Sam’s hand as she climbed back down the ladder. “Thank you…” she smiled.

 

Janet finished recording her findings while Helen helped the young woman fold the tall ladder, “It’s amazing people today still identify this figure with Mary Magdalene and [Gnosticism](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnosticism),” she said, watching as the young staffer left with the ladder. “In spite of the fact that historians have persistently rejected the notion of linking her to esoteric cults with Templar and [Cathar](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catharism) origins….” She checked the meter again then added, “And there was also that widespread belief that this was also the site of a pre-Christian druidical sect who worshipped a 'Virgin who will give birth'…” she waved her notepad at Helen briefly before jotting down more notes then joined her looking for drafts.

 

Helen’s eyes rolled heavenward and she struggled not to sigh heavily in exasperation, “And that was a purely late-medieval invention…” she replied drily, “and so is the notion that they once owned the blue tunic worn by Mary.” When Janet did not reply she turned to her, her eyebrows arched expectantly. Janet’s smile was soft as she crossed the room to her, “You look… happy...” Helen commented, smiling back.

 

“I am…” Janet agreed and took her by the hand, “don’t you feel it?” she pressed close, “It feels peaceful here.”

 

Helen snorted softly in amusement, “I think it’s supposed to…” she checked her watch, “The concert is going to start soon, want to attend?”

 

Janet regarded the deepening circles under Helen’s eyes and how she had begun to favor her right arm; “How about we enjoy it from Claude’s room? That way we can lie down,” she tugged at her hand; “I need to lie down anyway.” she lied.

 

Once inside the small secret room Janet locked the door behind them and following Helen, shed her coat and boots and joined her on the bed, grabbing the coarse woolen blanket left folded on the end and pulled it over them. Janet lay with her back pressed against Helen’s front and Helen wrapped her arm around her, cupping her breast through her clothes,

 

 _“Mmm,”_ she sighed into soft blond hair, _“I love spooning.”_ and smiled when she heard Janet chuckle softly.

 

Janet pulled the hand between her beasts and closing her eyes, began massaging the still mending limb. Helen sighed against her hair and Janet thought she could feel a thread of pain in the exhale; “Is this okay?”

 

“Yeah,” Helen whispered, “it’s just tired and sore.”

 

Janet kept her touch light as she massaged the musculature in Helen’s forearm. Beyond the screen, they could hear as guests filled the cathedral and by the time the concert started, Helen had fallen asleep and even Janet dozed as a choir filled the great cathedral with liturgical music covering a five hundred year period.

 

The sound of applause eventually woke them both and Helen pulled her tightly against her as she stretched her long form on the narrow cot, _“I wish Ashley… could be here…”_ Helen breathed in her ear.

 

Janet’s smile was wistful and she turned her head to whisper back _, “She would have considered this more than a bit dull for her tastes, don’t you think?”_

 

Helen made a soft noise of assent and snuggled against her once again. Several minutes passed while they listened to the music until Helen finally whispered, _“I can’t…”_ she began then faltered, her voice wavering, _“Sometimes I forget it’s for forever…”_ she whispered, _“That she’ll never come back… that we’ll never have family trips together… ever again.”_

 

Janet’s eyes closed and she squeezed the hands that held her, “She was a grown up, my love…” she murmured, “those trips would have eventually come to an end anyway as she grew into her own life and found her own friends…”

 

Tears brimmed in Helen’s eyes and slipped into soft blond locks, “I know…” she sniffed, “I know…”

 

As the sun set, acolytes lit dozens of large candles in the nave until soft candlelight reflected off the high arched walls and Janet woke again when she realized the hand that had held her breast was now between her legs,

 

 _“Helen!”_ she hissed, _“What on earth…”_

 

 _“You feel so good, Janet.”_ Helen breathed in her ear, _“you’re so beautiful,”_ she pulled her closer, _“so much more beautiful even than this music...”_ she added in a husky whisper, _“and this is Biebl’s Ave Maria….”_

 

Janet smiled crookedly and turned in the circle of her arms, _“Oh really…”_ she breathed and placed a wet kiss in Helen’s mouth.

 

 _“Mmph…”_ Helen tried to agree but quickly lost her train of thought in the caress of the softest lips she had ever kissed in her long life. Of their own accord, their hands roamed with increasing urgency as they their tongues tasted and explored until finally Janet pushed Helen away,

 

 _“Uhnumph… Helen,”_ she whispered, breathless, _“I need to take these off…”_ she muttered as she fumbled shakily with her clothes.

 

Smiling wickedly, Helen quickly stood and shed her clothes as quickly as she could then helped Janet pull back the thin top sheet and pulled it and the blanket over their nude forms. She quickly straddled Janet’s slender thigh and squeezed the taut breasts, pinching the stiffened points between her thumbs and forefingers. Janet arched beneath her and she laid her full weight on her, pressing her back onto the thin mattress. _“Remember,”_ she whispered hotly in her ear, _“we must be as silent as the grave...”_

 

Janet nodded, panting and trembling wildly as Helen ground her burning center on her thigh, her rough undulations slicking the soft skin,

 

Helen released one breast and slid her hand over Janet’s neatly trimmed mound and caressed it, massaging firmly, making Janet whimper, _“Shh…”_ she reminded her and slid a finger along the flooded crease, becoming as breathless as Janet when she felt her engorged inner labia protrude between the outer, rigid and fully engorged. She stroked between them, dipping two fingers inside molten depths as she continued wetly humping the tender thigh trapped between her legs.

 

Janet pressed her lips together and met Helen’s thrusts, her hips jerking in rhythm with the fingers that pumped inside. She could feel the orgasm within her building in time with the choir’s soaring notes outside the screen and she clutched at Helen’s breasts and turned her face into her neck, afraid she could not suppress her moans. Helen sensed Janet was about to come and curled the fingers within, stroking and rubbing the pebbled patch for all she was worth. When Janet stiffened and arched beneath her, her own orgasm erupted on Janet’s thigh in a shattering rush, and she felt the tremors radiate throughout her body as Janet threw back her head and opened her mouth wide in a silent scream just as the voices grew in an ascending _Amen_. More than just a mere spasm of erotic chemistry, the music lifted the pair into transcendence and time seemed to stand still, then ceased to exist entirely when their bodies shuddered stiffly on the bed and their minds broke free of the physical world, their souls inextricably entwined in a sea of blinding white loving light.

 

The last musical note faded quietly away and the cathedral erupted in thunderous applause, making Helen arch convulsively over Janet’s rigid form and grunt quietly into the pillow as they continued to climax as wave after wave of pleasure shook their forms.

 

As the applause continued beyond the screen, Helen and Janet’s orgasms gradually faded and they giggled helplessly against each other. They stayed connected, breathlessly kissing and laughing quietly until the choir began a new hymn and Janet clutched the hand between her legs when she felt Helen pull her fingers free,

 

 _“Can’t you stay inside me for a while?”_ she whispered.

 

 _“I’d love to…”_ Helen placed a quick kiss on her lips, _“But I don’t think we should leave a huge wet spot on the concierge’s bed, do you?”_ She pulled her fingers free and suckled them in her mouth as she pulled Janet from the cot.

 

She led her to the small sturdily built table and urged her to sit on the surface. Janet was silent as she watched her pull a straight back wooden chair between her spread legs and sit between them, smiling when Helen grasped her breasts and pulled her toward her upturned mouth. They kissed sweetly, tongues licking increasingly hot swaths through the other’s mouth while Helen fondled Janet’s taut flesh,

 

 _“Lean back…”_ she whispered hoarsely.

 

Breathing heavily again, Janet leaned back on the table, resting on her elbows and let her eyes drift closed. Helen positioned Janet’s feet onto the arms of the chair then curled her hands around the slender thighs and nuzzled the soft mound. Distantly, she registered the reverent tones of the choir’s voices rising beyond the screen and inhaled Janet’s light musky scent. Her eyes closed and she worshiped at the fount of her desire, rubbing her lips and nose against the neatly trimmed pubic hair and soft skin beneath.

 

When Janet returned to the sanctuary for Ashley’s funeral Helen had taken quiet inventory of her long lost love, _Lost for years due to my own ridiculous fear and…_ Helen pressed her tongue between sodden folds and pressed the flat of the skilled organ within, smiling when Janet’s body trembled uncontrollably and she fed on the wealth of wet that flooded in her mouth. She fed languorously, unconsciously taking her cue from the slow tempo of the music outside the choir screen.

 

When she met Janet and Aeryn in the foyer, her eyes, puffy and red-rimmed from grief fell on Janet’s as a man dying of thirst falls to his knees at the river’s edge, and Helen emblazoned forever on her memory the fine lines around Janet’s warm brown eyes that had deepened during her years of exile. _They never showed on the monitor when we spoke…_ the small silent voice mused, and she pressed deeper into Janet’s body, extending her tongue inside as far as she could reach. She had longed to touch her, to fall to her knees at her feet and bury her face in the warm folds as she was doing now but the pain and loss she felt that day was overwhelming and she clung blindly to her trademark stoicism. After she had begged Janet to return she had sobbed when she fed between her legs and saw, for the first time, how the soft black curls had turned gray with the passage of time, and Helen silently cursed the foolish fears that kept her from loving this woman.

 

Helen moaned quietly when she felt the small hand softly caress her hair and she raised her head, allowing the hand to tilt her face to Janet’s and kiss her deeply. She kissed her way back down her throat and nuzzled the flesh until she could take a hardened nipple in her mouth. She snaked a hand over Janet’s trembling thigh while she suckled; Claude left an open box of advent candles on the table and Helen slipped one free. An inch and a half in diameter and ten inches long, she rubbed the waxy length against Janet’s abdomen, making her head rock back on her shoulders. Returning between Janet’s quaking thighs, Helen teased the cream-flooded entrance with the tip of the candle until the wick became sodden with cum before she slid the thick length inside and began pumping the waxen shaft.

 

Janet’s eyes opened wide and she shook in wanton surrender as Helen returned to licking and suckling her flesh while she slowly increased the speed and strength of her thrusts. The wax candle she pumped in her depths was softening with the heat of her inner walls and Janet felt the climax explode simultaneously from her clitoris and urethral sponge. She curled forward, her wildly shaking legs falling open wide as she pressed Helens’ feasting mouth firmly against her, her eyes bulging when Helen’s teeth raked and rubbed her clit and she felt her gulp and swallow the ejaculate that exploded from her.

 

Helen continued to pump the softened candle within, drawing out the orgasm until the sweet eruptions of nectar slowed and Janet let go of her. She lay back on the tabletop, her chest heaving while tears slid from the corners of her eyes and into her hairline. Gazing blearily at the arched ceiling high above, her brows knitted both in loss and renewed arousal when Helen pulled the thick candle from her and pushing back onto her elbows she watched as Helen licked the wax clean. She sat up and inched forward until she had crawled onto Helen’s lap and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. The caress was tender and she licked and nibbled softly, tasting herself on Helen’s lips. When the music ended and the audience erupted in applause, Janet smiled broadly and pressed her lips close to Helen’s ear,

 

 _“The timing of the applause out there is impeccable…”_

 

She could feel Helen smile and chuckle quietly against her and she nuzzled the soft hair, “It’s your turn…” she added and taking the candle from her hand, knelt between Helen’s legs, grateful for the thick area rug that protected her from the cold stone floor. The strong musky scent that rose from Helen’s center made Janet’s mouth water and she breathed her essence deep in her lungs. She nuzzled and rubbed her cheek against the soft thatch of dark blond, unable to delay teasing open the folds with the tip of her tongue. She almost wept, overwhelmed by joy and desire as Helen spread her legs wider and the beauty of Helen’s center opened before her. She pressed shaking hands against the quaking inner thighs and laved the liquid length, savoring the salt-sweet tang of her thick cream, savoring the taste before sliding the length of the now curved candle inside.

 

Helen’s eyes squeezed shut and she gripped the edge of the chair in white-knuckled hands, impervious to the dull-throbbing pain that radiated from her healing radius and ulna. She pressed her lips together and fought the urge to cry out when Janet began pumping the waxy shaft. She fought not to groan aloud while Janet fed on her fluttering folds and lapped her length while the thick cylinder filled her completely and she ripped a hand from the seat and clamped it over her mouth when she came, her body jerking convulsively in the wooden chair.

 

Janet held the candle inside and drank from Helen’s body, swallowing the thick, sugary clear cum that burst into her firmly attached mouth. She feasted until the paroxysms slowed and she returned to licking the length of the quaking flesh clean before slowly pulling the softened candle from Helens body and let her eyes drift closed as she licked its length clean.

 

Helen sagged limply in the chair, and she could only continue to pant breathlessly when Janet rose and holding the curved and bent advent candle before her, whispered wickedly,

 

 _“Our first souvenir of Chartres…”_

 

She retrieved a zip-lock evidence bag from her shoulder bag and placed the candle inside. She zipped it shut and placed it back in the briefbag then pulled Helen by a limp hand from the chair and led her back to the bed. She urged her to lie on her side on the narrow mattress and lay facing her, draping a leg over her hip and pulled the sheet and blanket over them again,

 

 _“I think we can rest now until the crowd leaves and the staff locks up for the night….”_

 

~

 

The cathedral had been empty for hours and only Janet and Helen remained in the secret room behind the choir screen, quietly enjoying their picnic dinner. Once they had finished they grabbed their cases of monitoring equipment and left the small room for the black Madonna’s chapel. They set up two full spectrum cameras in the corners opposite each other in the back of the chapel and positioned two small digital audio recorders on the rail before the Madonna. The activity warmed them and they left their overcoats open,

 

“Alright…” Helen checked her watch and spoke in a clear voice near the digital recorders, “It’s now eleven fifty-two… and we’re about to begin. Janet and I are here in the black Madonna’s chapel in Chartres… and the room’s EMF…” she pointed her small flashlight at the meter’s screen, “is holding at a steady three point nine.”

 

“That’s significantly higher compared to this afternoon.” Janet muttered behind her as she consulted her hand-held temperature gauge, “And the temp is a balmy fifty-four degrees…”

 

“Not bad actually...” Helen shrugged and they came together in the center of the sanctuary, “Okay…” she cleared her throat,

 

 _“Salut,”_ she began, _“je m’appelle Helene et,”_ she gestured behind her, _“elle nom est Janette…. Nous sommes ici,”_ she continued in French _, “at the invitation of the church and Bishop_ _Trotteur for the singular purpose of making contact… There are many who believe a being has… lived here in the cathedral for the past seven hundred years, living in,”_ she gestured, indicating the wooden carving, _“or near the black Madonna. They are aware this being has helped many people over the centuries, and we have come to determine if you are here voluntarily….”_

 _“We have come,”_ Janet added, also in French, _“to speak with the being that emits a glowing light and heals those who come here in search of comfort and healing… and peace….”_

 _“Are you here?”_ Helen asked, indicating the digital recorders _, “If you speak and we can’t hear you these devices likely can…”_

 _“No one wants you to leave,”_ Janet’s eyes looked from the gauge she held to the Madonna on her pillar, _“we just want to make sure you are here by choice, and if not, we’d like to help you to go wherever you want…”_

 _“Or escape…”_ Helen added a bit drily, _“Whichever applies…”_

 

Janet’s brows arched when she glanced back down at her gauge, “The temp is now forty-eight degrees.”

 

“The EMF is rising…” Helen’s eyes were glued to the meter she held and she slowly approached the rail moving the meter from side to side, “it’s odd, the field seems to have a defined edge to it… every time I move it beyond a two or three foot margin it drops considerably.” She stopped and reversed her path walking backward to Janet again, “It’s as though the energy is coming from the Madonna in a column... towards us…”

 

“And the temp is still dropping,” Janet said, slightly nervous, “forty degrees… thirty-nine…”

 

“You’re kidding.” Helen’s brows knitted in a frown and she consulted the EMF meter, exclaiming quietly, “Amazing,” she murmured, noting she could now see her breath, “I’m getting a seven point eight… point nine… _eight point one.._.” she exclaimed quietly.

 

Janet pulled her eyes from her temperature gauge to the tall pillar candles that lit the sanctuary, “Helen?” she called softly. Helen turned and she pointed to the large candles mounted on the huge sconces, “There’d have to be a pretty strong wind to make them flicker this wildly.”

 

Helen turned a slow three-sixty where she stood; indeed the candle flames in the room had started to bob and flicker considerably.

 

“Do you feel a draft strong enough to make them do that?” Janet whispered, “Because I don’t…” she added and shivered, _Like the tiny flicker of a candle flame in a windless room._ Janet pressed her lips together, privately recalling the ancient Hindu text and felt herself tense nervously; _Only those are not_ tiny _flickers._

 

Helen turned back to her, “Does it seem brighter in here to you?” __

A brilliant light, like the light of the sun, suddenly flooded from the Madonna figure and filled the room and as they shielded their eyes, twin beams of arcing white emanating from the wooden figure shot across the chapel, spearing Helen and Janet like flies on a pin. Their feet left the floor as they arched back, arms flung wide and rigid, suspended in midair.

 

From their point of view, they were still standing on the stone floor and when they cautiously looked back at the pillared altar, they could dimly see a figure approach. Or rather, they could see an outline of a figure of white in the wash of bright light.

 

Apprehensively, they managed a step forward and Helen ventured, _“Uh… hello, you… you’re the being that lives here?”_

 

Still shielding her eyes and squinting painfully, Janet could clearly see an outline of eyes and a smiling mouth but no color in the transparent white or anything resembling a solid mass.

 

The light-being smiled and nodded and Helen continued, _“As we said, we’re not here to make you leave, we just want to know that you are here willingly.”_

 

Again, the figure nodded slowly and Janet could swear she could see wisps of light seemingly ebb and flow from the being as it slowly moved, as though the figure was a part of the sea of plasma light it moved within.

 

 _“Very well, then…”_ Helen’s voice faltered, struggling to keep her mind on the matter at hand and not allow herself to float away on the waves of peace she felt flowing from the light that filled every cell of her being. _“So you’re not…”_ she blinked in concentration, _“trapped here?”_

 

The being slowly shook its head from side to side, the smile still visible as it moved slightly closer.

 

 _“You’ve helped so many,”_ Janet finally found her voice, _“over a very long time, the people that come here love and respect you very much, and they are very grateful for your communion, thank you.”_

 

 _“Yes…”_ Helen sighed, feeling her resistance to the light melting away, _“Thank you…”_ her voice drifted as the figure smiled again and rose up until its bodily form floated aloft in the chapel and the light emanating from it blew an impossible blinding white. Helen turned away and Janet cried out, the light was white-hot and Janet’s mind reeled in alarm,

 

 _It burns!_ she screamed silently, _Oh my god we’re burning!_

 

Then their feet abruptly met the floor and Janet gasped raggedly, bent over her hands that rested just above her knees for support. She blinked uncertainly in the dim candlelight, willing her eyes to adjust, “Helen?” she called weakly.

 

Helen stood next to her, her legs shaking and she fell to her knees with a soft cry and began to sob brokenly. She sank back on her heels and placed her hands on the cold stone floor in front of her. Janet stumbled to her and she clutched desperately at the hands that touched her face and hair and pulled Janet into her embrace. Janet crawled onto her lap, straddling her and together both wept in release and in gratitude as their souls glowed with healing light, their grief transformed by unconditional love and acceptance.

 

Joined in transcendence, they wept in joy, their arms wrapped around each other they pressed tightly together, blending the tears that spilled from their eyes. As one, the beating of their hearts synchronized and they rocked slowly on the stone floor, exchanging breath, their foreheads resting exhaustedly against the other.

 

Janet finally eased off Helen’s lap, considering the cold unrelenting surface she knelt on, “Helen?” she asked tremulously, smoothing hair and tears from Helen’s vulnerable features, “Helen?” she sniffed, holding the upturned face in gentle hands, “Are you okay?”

 

“I…” Helen’s face was a mask of ecstatic, anguished joy, “I love you…” her voice broke and she roughly pulled Janet back into her arms, hugging her fiercely, “I love you…” she sobbed, “I love you so much….”

 

Fresh tears spilled from Janet’s eyes and she smiled into the dark locks, “I love you too…” she sobbed quietly, “I love you, Helen….”

 

Minutes more passed before Janet pulled slowly from Helen’s shaking arms and just as shakily, she stood, swiping the tears from her face with the back of her hand and sniffing loudly as she helped Helen stand. Weak and shaken and holding hands, they shuffled on unsteady feet as they retrieved their instruments from where they dropped them on the stone floor.

 

“I think this is broken…” Helen noted tremulously, peering closely at the EMF meter she held and Janet turned to her,

 

“Or fried…” she sniffed and cleared her throat.

 

“Yes…” Helen nodded distractedly and with hands that shook slightly, she picked up the digital audio recorders, “I believe we’re done in here,” she sniffed, nodding, still distracted, “And it is now…” she checked her watch, clearing her throat, “three minutes after midnight….” She concluded shakily and shut them off.

 

They were oddly silent as they turned off the cameras, removing them from the tripods and repacking them along with the rest of their gear. Grasping the specially designed and padded cases by the handles they both stopped and turned back to the raised statue of the black Madonna,

 

 _“Merci beaucoup...”_ they both said in unison and exchanged quick smiles,

 

 _“Yes,”_ Janet smiled, _“Thank you for speaking… for communicating with us…”_

 

 _“And thank you for…”_ Helen faltered as her mind grasped for the words, _“thank you for everything.…”_

 

They returned the equipment to the concierge’s room then headed for the restroom, “I really need to splash some cold water on my face.” Janet mumbled tiredly as they walked, hand in hand down the dark corridors.

 

Once they availed themselves of the facilities and washed their faces, they wandered the cathedral. Relishing in the peace and quiet they walked slowly, silent as they regarded the renaissance statuary in the candlelight, and when the cold finally chilled their hands, they tucked them inside their coat pockets. Helen pulled the small hand she held in her coat pocket and stopped,

 

 _“Kiss me…”_ she whispered and Janet pressed close, turning her face to hers.

 

They kissed sweetly, pressing soft lips together in a tender embrace and when they parted, they turned to regard the enormous statue of Mary and the angels behind the main altar,

 

“It’s an odd notion,” Helen said quietly, “to believe that Mary was taken bodily, still alive, and physically lifted to heaven by angels.”

 

“Mmm,” Janet seemed to concur, “I suppose everyone’s experience of heaven is different,” her brows furrowed in thought, “although I’ve never understood why people don’t experience the heaven around them, you know?”

 

Helen smiled down at her, “Isn’t that why people come to places like this?”

 

“Yes,” Janet nodded, “but why go anywhere?” her brows arched at her, “I experience heaven every time you touch me…”

 

Helen’s small smile widened, _“I need no angels to lift me to heaven…”_ she whispered, her gaze sinking into Janet’s dark warm eyes, _“All I need is you.”_

 

Janet smiled, “Then kiss me again.”

 

Their embrace was timeless, their connection absolute as each fed from and completely surrendered to the other and Janet melted into Helen’s embrace, her kiss so sweet and tender twin tears escaped the corners of Janet’s eyes and ran into her hairline.

 

When their lips finally parted, Janet chuckled softly in amusement, _“See?”_ she whispered tremulously, _“Heaven… heaven every time.”_

 

~

 

They kept their clothes and coats on and huddled together, spoon-style beneath the coarse blanket in the secret room behind the choir screen until the alarm on Janet’s watch sounded softly at six. The concierge’s assistant was due to arrive at seven and she wanted them to have enough time to use the facilities and pack up the car before handing over the keys. After thanking the man for the opportunity and promising to contact M. Delagneaux with the results of their investigation, they had breakfast in the same café and returned the basket with their thanks.

 

Helen slid behind the wheel for the drive back to Paris and Janet dug out their cel phones, turning both on as Helen drove along the main town road, watching the great cathedral of Chartres grow small in her rearview mirror.

 

As soon as Janet turned on the phones, they emitted insistent beeps and she sighed, “Well, here come the texts…”

 

“Emergencies?” Helen asked drolly, making Janet smile.

 

“Uh…” Janet’s voice trailed away as she quickly scanned through the flood of messages, “No… nothing yet…” Her eyebrows bobbed as she scrolled through the screens, noting that Will had sent identical messages to both their phones, “They were having problems figuring out what was giving the large flying ‘superhero’-person…” her voice drifted again as she read, “oh… apparently an elemental-like abnormal attached itself to this… _Walter_ … that gave him the _appearance_ of ‘super powers’, but…”

 

“But?” Helen’s arched her brows at her, trying not to sound impatient.

 

“Well, he kept sending texts as they experienced some set-backs, so I’m just scrolling to the end to see how… ah...” she nodded, tapping the screen on her phone, “they figured it out… and everything’s under control; the abnormal has been removed and sufficiently housed.” She grinned lopsidedly at her, “and he ended by asking how the search for _our_ elemental abnormal went.”

 

Helen sighed, a soft smile tugging at her lips, “Call him.”

 

Still smiling, Janet called home and chatted briefly with Helen’s protégé as they drove through the verdant hill and sighed deeply when she hung up, “Well, he says a nasty storm just got done pounding London and is headed our way…”

 

“You’re kidding,” Helen squinted through the windshield at the beautiful blue sky beyond.

 

“He says it’s picking up strength and is going to wallop Paris by late this afternoon.”

 

Helen arched an eyebrow at her, a conspiratorial glint in her eye, “So I suppose we’ll be stuck in our hotel for a few days until we can fly safely home?”

 

Janet snorted and reached for her hand, “He did say it was a fast moving storm that would probably only delay us by a day…”

 

“Hmm…” Helen nodded, humming, content.

 

***

 

Kathleen plopped on their bed with a heavy sigh and Aeryn knelt on the mattress behind her,

 

“Rough day?”

 

“No,” Kathleen sighed and moaned in gratitude when Aeryn began massaging her shoulders, “oh, thank you…. No, not really, it was all that hunching over the microscope… and I never did find that bacteria.”

 

“Which is good…” Aeryn shrugged behind her.

 

“Yes, but I still can’t ferret out what’s going on in that tank…” Kathleen sighed, arching into the hands.

 

“We will…” Aeryn assured her, “would a hot bath make you feel better?”

 

Kathleen turned and placed a searing kiss on her mouth, “Actually,” she breathed hotly in her mouth, “Fantasizing about you taking me with a really large dildo is the only thing that kept me awake for the last two hours I spent huddled over that fucking microscope.”

 

Aeryn burst out laughing; “It would be my pleasure, _my ladyship…”_ she whispered ferally and slid from the bed.

 

Kathleen fixed her eyes on Aeryn’s lovely nude backside as she hurried out of her clothes. Her mouth watered and her center pounded with hot liquid need when she saw Aeryn step into a harness sporting their largest dildo and she helped to tug the straps snugly around Aeryn’s hips then pulled her by the hand,

 

“I have to empty my bladder first.” she husked and pulled her into the adjoining bathroom.

 

“Alright,” Aeryn chuckled, “but in the shower first.”

 

“Aeryn…” Kathleen was unable to keep the plaintive quality from her voice, “Really, I….”

 

“It’ll be fine…” Aeryn assured her, activating their large high tech shower stall and opened the glass door, “we have an abundance of water and more than one drain for that matter.” She stepped inside and into the spray of warm water raining down from the customized showerheads above them.

 

Kathleen followed her into the shower that was the size of a small room. The fortressed structure sat perched on a hill high above the bay and they had easy access to the water the Vancouver sanctuary needed to house their large number of aquatic abnormals. Both salt and fresh water was a requirement and they processed an abundant supply of fresh water in their own desalination plant, so the women could delight in sexual water play for as long as they liked.

 

“You do love this room…” Kathleen smiled, only mildly disappointed Aeryn thwarted her plan to fellate the dong deep in her throat while she emptied her bladder on the toilet.

 

 _“Mmmph…”_ Aeryn pulled her in for a kiss, “And you not so much?” she could feel Kathleen spread her feet on the smooth shower floor, “No, my love…” she pulled her by the hand, “Over here…” She sat on the wide seat molded in the wall, “Are you ready? Or do you need lube…” she asked sliding her finger between Kathleen folds, _“ah…”_ the feral quality returned to her smile, _“you are most definitely ready…”_ she purred, stroking the creamy length between the engorged folds.

 

Kathleen only whimpered and grabbed Aeryn’s hand, pushing it further between her legs despite her straining bladder’s urgent need.

 

Aeryn pulled her finger free and urged Kathleen to straddle her lap, holding the large dildo erect and guided it into Kathleen’s opening. Kathleen’s eyes fluttered shut and she groaned aloud as she lowered herself on the shaft, reveling at the feeling of fullness.

 

 _“Oh my god… Aeryn…”_ she begged, placing her hands on the strong slim shoulders for support.

 

“Now rock on it…” Aeryn murmured her eyes half-lidded as she pinched and twisted the slippery nipples between her thumbs and forefingers.

 

Kathleen complied, grunting and rocking her hips and grinding on the thick toy, _“Oh Aeryn…”_ she gasped, _“God, Aeryn please…”_

 

“Please what?” she grunted as she endeavored to thrust her hips upward.

 

“If we’re going to do this in here then I want you… _to fuck me hard…”_ her voice trailed away in a pleading whimper.

 

“While you find relief?” Aeryn finished and Kathleen keened and grunted her assent.

 

Kathleen bit her lips together, trembling with the effort not to lose control of her full bladder when she stood, moaning at the feel of the dildo pulling free. She backed against the far wall and sat on the molded seat that sat higher from the floor, at a perfect height for Aeryn to stand between her legs and thrust inside her. She gripped the handles on either side of the seat and bending her knees to her chest, spread her legs wide. Aeryn stepped forward, holding the shaft and slid the full length inside,

 

 _“There now...”_ she husked, thrusting her hips hard and making Kathleen cry out, “Ready?’ she grunted and gripping the slippery hips in strong hands, began to pound the cock in Kathleen’s depths as hard as she could.

 

Kathleen cried out with each thrust, _“Y-y-y-yes!”_ she breathlessly grunted and gasped and moaned as Aeryn pounded inside.

 

“Do you want to come now…”Aeryn asked, panting, “or after?”

 

“N-n-now…” Kathleen begged and let go of a handle and began furiously rubbing her clit, _“Oh god now…”_ she begged plaintively.

 

Watching Kathleen rub her own clitoris made Aeryn moan aloud and she shifted the angle of the ramming cock so it rubbed forcefully against Kathleen's g-spot.

 

 _“Oh my g…”_ Kathleen legs arched high and wide and her body became rigid as she climaxed and released her bladder, allowing the gushing torrent of urine and large pumping cock to trigger her urethral sponge and the ejaculate exploded from her.

 

Aeryn’s eyes locked on the violent surge of warm liquid that splashed against her mound and her nose twitched in arousal at the slightly acidic smell that overpowered Kathleen’s musky sexual scent.

 

Wave after wave of ecstatic pleasure shook Kathleen and she sobbed at the relief she felt and the powerful orgasm that shook her rigid form like a ragdoll. As the waves of orgasm ebbed, she locked eyes with Aeryn and grunted in an effort to empty her bladder completely and both women moaned in concert at the feel of more warm urine squirting from between her legs. Aeryn buried the shaft as deep as it would go and rocked against Kathleen’s body; placing her hand and fingers over Kathleen’s and joined her in pinching and twisting the still erect clit until Kathleen came again, ragged cries tearing from her as another orgasm made her violently quake and tremble under Aeryn’s ministrations.

 

When she sagged limply against the wall Aeryn tenderly cupped her face and kissed her deeply, laving inside her mouth with her tongue, “Is that better?” she asked in a low voice.

 

Kathleen licked her lips, _“Yes…”_ she panted, _“yes, much better.”_

 

Aeryn pulled the cock free with a plop and Kathleen slid from the seat and sank to her knees. She lifted the tip of the silicone cock to her lips and slid the entire length inside, tilting her head to again lock eyes with Aeryn as she fellated the dildo deep in her throat.

 

Aeryn moaned and her hips undulated as she pumped the shaft in Kathleen’s mouth. Breathless, she slid the straps free of their buckles and pulled the length from Kathleen’s throat and dropping the strap-on unceremoniously on the floor, grasped the back of Kathleen’s head and guided her mouth between her legs. A keening sound tore from deep in her chest when she felt the strong lips and tongue suckle her throbbing clit and she emptied her own bladder, coming as soon as she heard Kathleen moan at the feel of hot urine cascading down her chest. She braced a hand against the wall for support and bucked against the feasting mouth as she climaxed, grunting cries breaking from her.

 

Aeryn shakily slid down Kathleen’s kneeling form until she sat astride her lap and planted hungry grateful lips over her mouth. Despite their exhaustion, they kissed ardently for long minutes until Aeryn finally pulled away far enough to murmur, “Ready for a shower and bed?”

 

Kathleen cocked her head to one side, regarding her, “I’m ready for more than that…”

 

“Really?” Aeryn’s brows arched in surprise, “Like what, a spanking?”

 

“I’m ready for more than a post-fuck spanking,” she said thickly, running her hand appreciatively up and down the muscled back, “I’d like a spanking followed by a hearty flogging.”

 

Aeryn pressed her lips together; she had only spanked Kathleen with her hand until she decided when she was ready for a firm paddling with a leather slapper. Now her lover was apparently ready for more.

 

“And before you ask…” Kathleen smiled, “Yes, I’m sure.”

 

***

 

Helen had reserved the Suite Challot at the Shangri-la Hotel in Paris and Janet’s smile was happy when the bellhops deposited their overnight bags in the bedroom and the equipment cases in the dining room.

 

“It’s beautiful, Helen…” she whispered as she stood at the huge glass French doors that looked out on a large veranda and their view of the Eiffel Tower.

 

Helen’s grin was indulgent as she locked the door behind the departing bellhops and joined her, “That’s good,” she enfolded the petite figure in her arms, “because we may be stuck in here for a couple of days.”

 

Janet turned in the circle of her arms and draped her arms around Helen’s waist, “Now _that_ ,” she tilted her face to her, “sounds like a lovely weekend of lovemaking to me…”

 

Helen dipped her head for a kiss and when they parted Janet sighed, “Hungry for lunch yet?”

 

“Well,” Helen wagged her brows suggestively, “I _am_ hungry…” she shed her coat and walking backward, pulled off Janet’s coat, leaving both on the floor as she sank into a large comfy chair and pulled Janet crossways onto her lap.

 

Janet snickered softly and settled in for a long session of kissing, her eyes drifting closed at the feel of Helen’s lips on hers and reveling in the sensation of having her tongue in her mouth. Minutes passed until she became aware of Helen’s hand massaging her breast and she groaned in her mouth,

 

 _“Mmmphfff…”_ she moaned, _“Helen…”_

 

Not wanting to overwork her still weak forearm Helen whispered, “Unbutton and unzip your pants.” and smiled when Janet hurried to comply. “Thank you…” she husked between kisses.

 

 _“Oh god… I…”_ Janet squirmed on her lap; _“please…”_ she panted, _“don’t tease…”_

 

 _“Mmm?”_ Helen hummed inquiringly, still kissing her and squeezing and rubbing Janet’s mound through the fabric.

 

Ever compliant, Helen slid her hand inside the jeans and panties, her eyes fluttering closed at the feel of the soft curls when she threaded her fingers through the trimmed thatch and over Janet’s mound, only briefly teasing the folds before slipping the tips of two fingers into a wealth of hot silken cream. _“Oh my love...”_ she husked, _“oh you feel so exquisite…”_

 

Janet arched and writhed on her lap, breathless, _“Please…”_ she panted, _“please…”_

 

Helen slid the fingers inside and Janet moaned aloud, breathless cries breaking from her as Helen pumped the digits within, adding a third finger while her thumb rubbed the small straining clitoris from beneath its hood,

 

“Now unbutton your blouse...” she husked again, smiling and sighing when Janet whimpered and hurried to comply with trembling hands.

 

She fumbled shakily with the buttons on her blue chambray shirt, grunting and moaning while she struggled to shrug the shirt off one shoulder and pulled a breast free from her bra, arching on Helen’s lap, angling the breast toward Helen’s mouth in offering.

 

Helen pulled her closer and sucked the stiffened point in her mouth, thrusting her fingers deeply as she suckled the flesh.

 

 _“Oh Jesus…”_ Janet threaded her fingers in the dark tresses, _“Oh god…”_ she moaned, _“bite it…”_ she implored, _“puh-please… baby….”_

 

Helen rubbed her clit and the pebbled patch within hard and bit down on the nipple between her lips, raking the edge of her teeth along the length of the rigid structure and suckling as Janet cried out and arched in her embrace.

 

The sensations made Janet’s world blow a blinding white and she came with an explosive jolt. She groaned low in her chest as ejaculate spurted into Helen’s hand and she shuddered and writhed while Helen maintained the ministrations on her breast and between her legs, making her ride the waves of her orgasm for long minutes until soft, sobbing cries of surrender tore from her throat and Helen finally stilled her thumb and the fingers within.

 

Helen finally pulled her mouth from Janet’s tortured nipple and held her close, laying her cheek on Janet’s breast and listening to her heart while she gasped and groaned and floated in afterglow.

 

 _“I love you, Janet Fraiser….”_ she whispered hoarsely.

 

A small sob erupted from Janet and she chuckled, pulling Helen’s mouth to hers, _“And I love you, Helen Magnus…”_ she rasped and kissed her deeply. “I’d like to lie here in your arms forever, with you… inside me…” she panted, “but I think it’s your turn…” Her eyes slammed shut when Helen pulled her fingers free and when she opened them again, they were dark with renewed desire while she watched Helen lick her palm and fingers clean. Her mouth watered and she covered Helen’s mouth with her own, thrusting her tongue in Helen’s mouth and tasted herself until Helen moaned in surrender,

 

“Okay,” Janet chuckled thickly when she pulled away, “lets’ get you into bed…”

 

She struggled from her lap and pulled Helen from the chair, shedding their clothes on the floor as they made their way across the room. The staff had already turned down the enormous four-poster bed and Helen pushed the covers further down the mattress with her heels while her hands urged Janet to lie inverted on top of her. She spread her legs and moaned when Janet nuzzled her mound; her eyes fluttered closed and her hands smoothed over the smooth skin of Janet’s back, over the pert twin muscled mounds and down the slim thighs.

 

Janet buried her lips and nose into dark blond curls and wrapped her arms around Helen’s thighs, hanging on when Helen rolled them gently onto their sides so she could curl on the mattress. Each rested their head on the inner thigh of the other and pressed firmly into sodden folds with questing, feasting lips and tongues. Helen’s delicate nose detected the heady scent of Janet’s remaining cum and ejaculate and she softly licked and suckled the soft tender skin and tissue clean while Janet slurped and laved the heavy cream from Helen’s flooded opening.

 

Helen groaned and gasped aloud at the intensity of Janet’s ardor and she pressed her tongue inside as deep as it would go and hummed into silken walls as her hips bucked and shuddered against the thumb that wildly rubbed her large rock-hard clit and the demanding mouth that devoured her. A sob broke from her and she stiffened on the bed convulsing rigidly as her cries drowned out the sound of the heavy, sugar-sweet ejaculate that surrendered explosively to Janet’s suckling lips and thrusting tongue and rushed into her feasting mouth.

 

Janet groaned into the spasming flesh and climaxed, her hips bucking wantonly against Helen’s face as she fed. Minutes passed and neither noticed the rain that had begun to fall outside the tall gilded windows as they eased down from their orgasms, each unwilling to let go of the quivering flesh between their lips.

 

***

 

They chatted while they shampooed and soaped each other from head to toe. Kathleen leaned over Aeryn’s kneeling form as she tenderly soaped and cleaned between her legs and deeply cleaned the rim and inside her puckered rear opening.

 

 _“Ohh....”_ Kathleen panted and moaned low in her chest.

 

Aeryn stood and cupped her full breasts, “There now…” she murmured teasingly.

 

Kathleen cut off anything else she might have said by kissing her deeply and when they parted her brows knitted in a frown, “You know you never told me how you discovered…” her brain stumbled on the infrequently used word, “ _kink_ …”

 

“Well,” Aeryn sighed, resting her hands on the shoulders as Kathleen began soaping her, “I was in my last year of college… and I was dating a girl who fairly screamed at me one night… mid-orgasm for me to hit her. I was truly perplexed and afterward she asked me if I was into BDSM and well…” Aeryn snorted, “I barely knew what the letters stood for let alone what she was talking about so she took me to a dungeon club….”

 

“Really?” Kathleen’s eyes flashed darkly, making her grin,

 

“Oh yes,” she assured her, “she got a private room…” Aeryn’s voice faded briefly when she remembered the intensity of her carnal response when Tricia opened the bag she brought with her and pulled out paddles and whips and floggers and… “She showed me how to use a paddle and a flogger…” She licked her lips, enjoying the feel of Kathleen’s hands on her, soaping her clean, “and I practiced whipping the Saint Andrew’s cross in the room before she had me tie her to it and use the toys on her.”

 

Kathleen licked her lips in unconscious imitation, feeling her clit tighten between her legs, “And then what?”

 

“Then she showed me how to use the restraints.… We were in there for four hours,” she shook her head at the intense arousal the memories conjured, “she kept wanting more…”

 

“Like what?”

 

“She wanted me to ass-fuck her on the cross…” Aeryn said simply, a tiny smile pulling at her lips when she felt Kathleen’s hand tremble where it rested on her back. “It was fascinating,” she murmured, “watching her response… at first I was scared when she started to cry and beg for more. But her screams and orgasms were revelations in understanding how some women achieve catharsis when dealing with stress, grief or guilt, and how in the service of that…” she shrugged, “being tied up and spanked or whipped can deepen intimacy, trust...”

 

Kathleen’s deep gray eyes were smoky with desire and Aeryn clasped her chin between her thumb and forefinger, “But, my love…” she murmured earnestly, “you must not resist any emotions that surface. I think most who indulge in this art do so because they only want to dominate their partner and there is no deep emotional connection.” Kathleen looked puzzled and she continued, “It’s like a person who gets high chemically but never experiences anything real. I realized as I grew older that while I loved the emotional connection of mutual trust and surrender… and the woman I was with got the gift of release that could open her to further healing….  Until now,” her smile widened, “until now that connection has never mattered so much to me… as the connection I have with you, my Lady Greystoke.”

 

Kathleen was wordless as she clasped Aeryn’s face in both hands and drew her in for a long, probing kiss.

 

~

 

Aeryn stood in back of Kathleen while she briefly regarded the array of toys hanging in her armoire, her brows arching in surprise when Kathleen immediately picked the leather slapper, a short leather flogger and a straight whip,

 

“That will cause some injury,” she warned her, “a strike from that one will make you bleed.”

 

“Good.” Kathleen turned to her, “I want your mark on me…” she stepped close and handed her the toys, “although I think you know I am already yours.”

 

Aeryn pursed her lips; “Alright…” she agreed and nodded to the bureau, “let’s begin…”

 

Kathleen placed her hands flat on the bureau and bent over it, arching her backside suggestively, _“I’m all yours...”_ she purred.

 

A small smile tugged at Aeryn’s lips and she slid her hands appreciatively over the smooth muscled mounds, “No safe word,” she said, caressing the cool skin, “just tell me to stop and I will.” She stepped back and gave Kathleen’s backside a sharp slap with the leather paddle.

 

Kathleen cried out, her head flying back, _“Oh yes…”_ she hissed and bit her lips as Aeryn hit her backside. The sting and burn flaming across her skin made her eyes suddenly open wide when images from her past flashed on her mind’s eye: _images of her parents, when she came out to them and both told her, in no uncertain terms, how disappointed they were in her “life choices”…. Flashes of memories, of strained conversations as she tried to explain she tried to be with men but she simply was not wired that way… and she never would be…._

 

Aeryn slowly increased the strength of her blows, and Kathleen’s gasps and cries gradually became shouts and loud sobs. Aeryn had never spanked her this hard before but she was determined to ride it out. Her backside stung and burned and when tears sprang from her tightly closed eyes her knees buckled, although she still gripped the edge of the dresser in her hands. Aeryn left the slapper on the bureau and knelt beside her.

 

“Kath?’ she called quietly, “My love?”

 

Kathleen shook her head, “I’m alright...” she hiccupped and turned a tearstained face to her, “You’ve never… spanked me that hard before…”

 

Aeryn gently tucked some errant strands of light brunette behind an ear and gently pulled a hand from the bureau and pressed it against her lips,

 

“I think I see now…” she panted breathlessly, “what you meant… about it forcing intense… feelings to the surface.”

 

Aeryn nodded, “You mustn’t resist any emotion that comes, no matter what it is… no matter how intense.” She placed a tender kiss on her lips, “Can you stand?”

 

“Yes,” Kathleen sniffed and swiped at her damp cheeks but she still accepted Aeryn’s help.

 

“Do you want to continue?”

 

“Yes.”

 

Aeryn led her to the silken scarves she had tied to the bedposts and positioned her between them, urging her to stand spread-eagle so she could wrap her wrists in the forgiving silk and tied the ends securely, “This bed is rock solid…” Standing behind her, she slid her hands around Kathleen’s waist and cupped the full, distended breasts, “so you can twist and writhe as much as you like.” she murmured softly, pinching and rolling the hardened nipples between her fingers, “But try not to hang by your wrists.”

 

Kathleen moaned her assent, her eyes closed as she arched into Aeryn’s embrace, _“I promise…”_ she husked. Aeryn’s hands released the full globes and she leaned into her as she slid them down the slender torso and over her mound. A tiny keening cry issued from Kathleen’s throat and Aeryn’s grin turned feral as she slid a finger between slick sodden folds,

 

 _“Well, now,”_ she purred, _“let’s see how wet you are when I’m finished whipping you.”_ She pulled away and suckled the finger clean as she crossed the room to retrieve the flogger.

 

Kathleen’s breath was harsh and she nervously trembled in the bonds, acutely aware of the slick flood of creamy wet that trickled from her center and down her inner thighs. Just as she was about to turn her head to see where Aeryn was she felt the flogger slap lightly across her back,

 

“This is how I’ll start…” Aeryn said softly and Kathleen’s expression was quizzical.

 

“Alright...” she said somewhat uncertainly, “But you can…” suddenly the flogger struck her again, more strongly this time and Kathleen grunted in surprise.

 

“But each blow will be harder…” Aeryn said more matter-of-factly and struck her again, a little harder.

 

Kathleen’s eyes slammed shut, and she felt her nipples and center grow tight and hot as the pain flared across her back, _“More…”_ she rasped.

 

Aeryn brought the flogger down across her back with increasing vigor, whipping her until her until her back flamed with pink and red lash marks. Her eyes were half-lidded as she watched Kathleen twist and writhe in the bonds, crying out with each blow and her nostrils flared at the smell of their combined sexual scent that filled the room. She exchanged the flogger for the whip and took a deep breath; Kathleen’s trust and surrender was evident, and Aeryn hoped she would find cathartic release in the final three blows.

 

“Prepare yourself…” she told her quietly and drew back her arm.

 

Kathleen nodded and sniffed, tensing in the bonds, waiting. She heard the straight whip whistle for a nanosecond as Aeryn swung it through the air and screamed in pain when the whip struck her already inflamed back. _“Oh god!”_ she cried, stumbling in the bonds. She shook and trembled violently at the burning sting of the lash, suddenly aware she could see the disapproving faces of her parents in her mind’s eye. _“Again…”_ she rasped and pressed her lips tightly together but when Aeryn struck her a second time with the unforgiving whip, she screamed again, gasping and moaning amid the sobs that stole her breath.  _In some corner of her mind she saw herself screaming at the scornful expressions on her parents faces until they faded from her sight and she felt herself arch in the bonds and scream again in release, feeling the shame and disappointment forced on her by her parents fall from her and shatter like dirty panes of glass. I am free of you!_ She screamed silently, _Do you hear me? Free!_

 

Aeryn was careful not to overlap the lashes and she drew back her arm and struck Kathleen a final time. This blow was the hardest and Kathleen screamed and cried and struggled to stand even though her knees buckled as great heaving sobs tore from her soul.

 

 _At last…._ Aeryn released a shaky sigh of relief and approached, “Easy…” she soothed, she placed her hands on Kathleen’s hips to steady her and murmured soft words until her cries quieted a little. The final three blows with the whip had not split the skin but the lashes had raised some thin angry red welts that would take at least a week to heal. “Can you stand here for a few moments longer?”

 

Kathleen nodded, _“Yes…”_ she said in a tiny voice, still weeping softly.

 

“Alright then…” Aeryn smoothed her hands over the quaking hips in calming circles, “Just a few moments more…” she murmured and returned the whip to the armoire and retrieved three more items.

 

Kathleen struggled to remain standing on her feet and tried to catch her breath, too overwhelmed by the throbbing, burning sensations across her back and buttocks to wonder what Aeryn planned next. Just as she tried to clear her throat, she felt Aeryn’s hands caress her throbbing backside and she whimpered in response. Her eyes fluttered shut and she stiffened in the bonds in arousal when she felt Aeryn’s hands part her muscled mounds and flick her tongue at her rear channel,

 

 _“Oh….”_ she keened in a tiny voice, unable to form actual words and beg for more.

 

Kneeling between her feet, Aeryn traced the rim of the puckered opening with the tip of her tongue and suckled briefly as she stretched her tongue inside and probed the rear channel she had cleaned so meticulously in the shower. When she withdrew, she inserted the rounded tip of a syringe, dispensing lubricant as she slid the entire length within. Kathleen’s eyes opened wide at the intrusion and the feel of the cool lube filling her and she keened and whimpered in anticipation.

 

Aeryn pressed the end of a large anal plug into the dollop of lube emerging from Kathleen’s rectum and worked the tip inside, aiming the point at Kathleen’s naval as she pushed, “Here it comes…” she husked and worked the full length of the plug inside until she could nestle the flared end between the quaking mounds. “There…” she patted the reddened flesh, “Keep it inside now.” She activated the vibrating bullet that sat in the end of the plug and smiled wickedly at Kathleen’s low moan. She urged her to shift her feet back and knelt between her and the bed, “And now,” she smiled up at her, her eyes both soft and carnal, “for the piece de resistance…”

 

She held up a large jelly vibrator and Kathleen wailed softly in anticipation. Watching from between her heaving distended breasts and half-lidded eyes, she obeyed the hands that urged her legs further apart, moaning at the feel of the vibrating toy she clenched in her rear channel. Panting audibly, she watched Aeryn press her lips and nose into her furred mound and groaned in anticipation.

 

Aeryn’s mouth watered and she could already taste Kathleen’s sex on her tongue as she nuzzled the quaking flesh. Rubbing the tip of the vibrator against the engorged soaking folds, she stroked her length, delighting in the sounds of wet and the sight of Kathleen’s creamy cum coating the tip.

 

 _“Oh god, Aeryn…”_ Kathleen begged, _“Oh Jesus, please… please fuck me now… please… please fuck me….”_

 

Aeryn’s smile was feral as she complied and slowly worked the length of the toy inside. When she had inserted it fully she murmured, “There now…” and turned the vibrator on the low setting, “is that better?” she asked innocently.

 

Kathleen groaned low in her chest and she jerked and arched in the bonds that held her upright, dimly aware the pain in her back and buttocks had taken on a different quality. Having both channels filled and vibrating at the same time made her shudder and quake uncontrollably and her moans and cries raised in pitch and fervor when Aeryn began pumping the shaft and her hips bucked unashamedly, _“Oh… nugh...”_ she grunted, _“oh fuck me… hard…”_ she begged, _“harder…”_

 

“Can you feel them rubbing together?” Aeryn asked huskily.

 

Kathleen could indeed feel the large vibrating shafts rubbing against one another through the thin membranes separating them and she keened and whimpered in reply.

 

Using both hands, Aeryn thrust the vibrator with greater vigor, lengthening her strokes and nearly pulling the toy free before plunging back inside again. She pressed her nose and tongue between the fluttering florid folds, licking until her questing lips found Kathleen’s rigid clit and she licked and suckled and laved the small throbbing organ until Kathleen’s growing cries indicated she could take no more and Aeryn turned the vibe on high and furiously rammed the toy inside.

 

Kathleen surrendered utterly to the orgasm, and the muscles in her body stood out in stark relief as she trembled rigidly in the silken bonds and convulsed against the thrusting toy and Aeryn’s wildly feasting mouth. Her eyes opened wide and she roared as she violently ejaculated. She surrendered to tears of ecstatic joy as Aeryn continued to pump the vibe, albeit at a slower pace, rubbing it hard against her g-spot and she sobbed even as her body strained to yield even more ejaculate to Aeryn’s demanding lips and tongue.

 

Aeryn turned off the vibrator but held the toy deep inside while she continued to feed, determined to tease the very last drop of clear sugary cum from Kathleen’s urethral sponge. She waited until the last tremor faded before slowly pulling the vibrator free and stood. Kathleen’s head hung limply and she briefly licked the parted lips with the tip of her tongue before kissing her.

 

 _“Aer… Aeryn?”_ Kathleen’s voice was faint as she gazed blearily at her.

 

Aeryn smoothed the damp hair from her face with her free hand, “Let’s get you into bed…” she murmured and ducking around her, turned off the vibrating bullet in the anal plug and briefly caressed the tender backside. She gave the plug a twist, licking her lips at Kathleen’s faint answering moan and slowly pulled the toy from her body. She took both into the bathroom and left them in the sink, returning to untie the silk from Kathleen’s wrists.

 

She helped her lie facedown on the bed and holding her open with one hand, gently cleaned her with the damp washcloth she brought with her from the bathroom. She took quiet note of how limply Kathleen lay on the mattress and when she finished she discarded the cloth on the nightstand and lay close alongside her,

 

“Kath?’ she called softly, smoothing the hair from her face and caressing a tearstained cheek. “Are you alright?”

 

Kathleen nodded, gracing her with a small trembling smile and leaned in for a long, probing kiss. Aeryn’s eyes opened wide, surprised she had strength left for such ardor, then let them flutter closed as she reveled in the touch of Kathleen’s’ lips and tongue.

 

When she finally pulled her lips from Aeryn’s she sighed, “I’m alright but…” she shook her head, her brows knitting a little, “I feel…” she half-shrugged and winced in pain, “It hurts,” she mumbled tiredly, “but… I can’t believe… the feelings, the memories that… that I hadn’t thought about in a long time….” She looked at her with watery sincere eyes, “To feel such trust… and surrender. I felt so vulnerable but…” she struggled to find the words, “it felt so good… to give you control…”

 

Aeryn grinned at her unsure tone, “Are you sure?”

 

Kathleen snorted in exhausted amusement and sagged further onto the bed, “All I’m sure of right now is how much I love you, Aeryn Sun….”

 

***

 

It was after one-thirty when they finally awoke in a tangle of arms and legs,

 

 _“Mmm…”_ Janet scrubbed her face, “are we too late for lunch? I’m starved.”

 

Helen turned and squinted blearily at the ornate clock on the nightstand, “Shouldn’t be…” she turned back and placed a wet kiss on Janet’s mouth, “There are three restaurants in the hotel, shall we ask which one serves the casually dressed?”

 

Janet frowned, “Helen, this suite is nearly two thousand square feet…” she gestured weakly, “I mean, there’s a formal dining room for god’s sake…”

 

Helen’s grin widened, “Living in here for a few days sounds fine to me…”

 

“And we’ll only put on those massive robes when room service arrives…” Janet’s grin was feral, “or the maid has to come tidy up and change the linen.”

 

“And be nude the rest of the time?” Helen chortled softly.

 

“Well,” Janet’s eyes rolled toward the ceiling as she considered the idea, “yes…” she said thoughtfully, unconsciously massaging Helen’s forearm she held between her breasts, “unless we’re eating at the table… or we’re cold… then we can wear the robes, but we should definitely be naked the rest of the time…”

 

“Because we’ll be making love….”

 

“Of course...” Janet kissed her, “Let’s order lunch.”

 

“Alright,” Helen released her and they rose from the bed, crossing to the closet, “Did you know we have a pantry?”

 

Janet turned to her, surprised, “Really?” she shrugged into the massive robe, “Huh… that could come in handy if the storm gets really bad.”

 

“I hope we can still have hot water for the Jacuzzi if the power goes out…. They did say they have some massive generators but I noticed we have a lot of candles and candelabra in here.”

 

“Well, of course,” Janet led her from the room by the hand, “Candles are much more romantic.”

 

Helen chuckled low in her throat, “And orgasmic….”

 

~

 

Helen watched Janet watching the storm from the enormous windows, the phone pressed to her ear, “You were right, the storm is quite severe, I imagine we’ll be stuck here at least until day after tomorrow.”

 

“Does this mean you’ll be working or relaxing?” Will’s voice crackled through the staticky connection.

 

“Well, we are going to give at least a cursory review of the recordings we made, but I imagine we’ll mostly be relaxing since our investigation has concluded…” she assured him, “and I think we’ll definitely be taking more little holidays like this in the future…” she added, prompting Janet to turn and smile.

 

“Why Helen Magnus, I am shocked!” Will chided good-naturedly, “Shocked you would _ever_ actually even consider taking some time off to relax!”

 

Helen chuckled, “Yes, thank you for your concern, Doctor Zimmerman; you know how to reach us…. We’ll call when we’re on our way back.”

 

She rang off and joined Janet at the window, wrapping her arms around her and closing her eyes in delight when Janet sank into her embrace,

 

“According to the brochure that balcony is _four hundred and thirty square feet_ ….” Janet tilted her head to look up at her, “It’s such an amazing view of the Eiffel tower isn’t it?”

 

“Spectacular...” Helen murmured and turned Janet in her arms, kissing her.

 

Janet’s eyes fluttered closed and she emitted small noises of appreciation, approval and arousal, making Helen snicker in affectionate amusement,

 

“Shall we make love again,” she asked, “or go over our evidence while we still have electricity?”

 

Janet sighed heavily, “Well, I guess we could…” she swayed in Helen’s arms, looking around her and at the spacious suite, “It’s not like we have that much to review…”

 

They retreated to the dining room where their cases of equipment stood inside the door and Janet pulled out a flat screen monitor to hookup to the remote tablet, assuming they would both appreciate a larger view of the video recorded with the full spectrum cameras. Helen plugged all the devices into a power strip that had a European converter attached to it and plugged that into the nearest socket. She downloaded first the audio from the digital recorders to the tablet, then the video from the cameras, then connected the tablet to the monitor. Janet had spied the wine rack built in the ornately carved breakfront in the corner and withdrew a bottle of wine,

 

 _“Oh my god…”_ she breathed, “Petrus?”

 

A wide grin suffused Helen’s face as she looped the video and audio to run together, “Did you expect them to offer bottles of Spanish plonk?”

 

Janet laughed aloud at Helen’s use of the derogatory British term, “No, I suppose not.” She retrieved a corkscrew, “I know I should wait for dinner to open this…” her brow furrowed in concentration, “We should be having a nice plate of tournedos or filet mignon with this….” She poured them each a glass and returned to the table, “But I think we deserve to celebrate our successful contact with a new species….”

 

“Agreed,” Helen accepted the glass, “and we can have the rest with dinner.” She pulled Janet’s chair close, “Let’s have a look.” she took a sip of the wine and set it next to the tablet. She had propped the tablet on the cameras and cued up the video/audio mix from the left camera and digital recorder, “Here we go…” she mumbled and started the program.

 

They watched the black and white infrared images of themselves as Helen began their investigation,

 

 _“Alright… it’s now eleven fifty-two, and we’re about to begin: Janet and I are here in the black Madonna’s chapel in Chartres… and the room’s EMF… is holding at a steady three point nine.”_

 

They watched intently as they listened to themselves, speaking in French, introduce themselves and explain why they had come. The heavy rain that wetly pounded the balcony outside sounded distant as they sipped their wine, their eyes glued to the large monitor,

 

 _“The temp is still dropping, forty degrees… thirty-nine…”_

 _“You’re kidding.”_

 

“Look,” Janet pointed at the screen, “You can see your breath.”

 

 _“I’m getting a seven point eight… point nine… eight point one...”_

 

“And that’s when the candles started…” she added, her voice a whisper.

 

Helen watched the image of herself turn a slow three-sixty in the center of the screen and the noted how the camera automatically switched from infrared to the visible light function, “There!” she exclaimed quietly, “Look at the light!”

 

 _“Does it seem brighter in here to you?”_

 

They watched intently, peering closely at the screen as the camera’s filters scrambled to adjust to the brilliant light, like the light of the sun, emanating from the Madonna figure.

 

“Oh my god…” Janet murmured, watching as the camera switched frantically from visible to ultraviolet filters in order to decipher the twin beams of brilliant, arcing white that shot from the wooden figure and across the chapel, spearing their images like flies on a pin. Their feet left the floor as they arched back, arms flung wide and rigid, and the image seemed to freeze with them suspended in midair.

 

“What the hell?” Helen looked bewildered as they stared at their stark pinkish-white images until the screen popped abruptly to white noise.

 

“Oh, you’re kidding…” Janet groaned while Helen hurried to switch to the other camera.

 

“Unbelievable…” Helen grumbled; the frustration evident in her voice as the second camera, positioned on the right side of the chapel showed the same image from a different perspective; of the two of them suspended in midair for several seconds before snapping abruptly to static. She fast-forwarded through the white noise, staring at the screen until the pinkish-white image of the chapel blinked back on and she reversed the recording back to the point the images returned.

 

They stared at the same image of themselves suspended in freeze frame for several seconds before the pinkish-white image blinked abruptly to black and white as the camera switched back to the infrared filter and their figures dropped abruptly to the stone floor. Helen listened to the sounds of Janet’s ragged breathing as she struggled to catch her breath,

 

 _“Helen?”_

 

Janet watched Helen’s shaking figure and her heart ached when she saw her fall to her knees with a soft cry and sob brokenly. Unconsciously, Janet’s hand searched out Helen’s and they watched, transfixed as their images huddled together on the cold stone floor and wept in each other’s arms. Janet pulled the hand to her lips and pressed a kiss against the soft skin,

 

“I can’t believe it…” Helen groaned, “ _nothing_ of our conversation with the light being was recorded…” Her voice faded and she looked uncertainly at Janet, “You saw it too?” she asked rather than stated. “I didn’t _imagine_ our conversation with…” she gestured agitatedly at the monitor.

 

“The…” Jane’s lips twitched in a smile at her partner’s aggravated and disappointed tone, “light-being? Yes…” she chuckled softly, unconsciously massaging the hand and forearm, “I can recall every moment of our encounter quite vividly.” She released the her, “But look…” she reversed the recording until just before the white noise and freeze-frame, “watch the frame counter for the left camera….” She tapped on the small window at the bottom of the screen then hit the play button. “See? The camera didn’t freeze on that frame of us in the air and stop working, according to the counter; it’s _actively_ recording us suspended _in the air_ for a full seven seconds…” She pointed to the counter at the bottom of the frame again, “and the frames keep whizzing by even during the staticky white noise, and the right camera recorded the exact same thing…. By all appearances they operated normally… we’re just… _hanging_ up there, frozen…” she shook her head in disbelief that she was even saying the words out loud, “ _in mid-air_ for more than two full minutes during which we _thought_ we were standing on the floor having a conversation with a being made entirely of light.”

 

“Amazing….” The video popped to the staticky white noise and Helen reversed it again, “These are hi-definition full spectrum cameras…” she muttered, “They record forty-eight frames per second… twice as fast as conventional cameras….”

 

They watched the recordings again and again, drinking wine while the storm grew in intensity beyond their palatial suite until both sat back wearily in their chairs and Janet poured what little remained of the exquisite wine into their glasses.

 

They ran the recording from the left camera again and Helen fast-forwarded through the white noise, watching again as the counter tallied thousands of frames until their floating images returned to the screen. She paused the recording and sat back heavily in her chair, “Perhaps…” her brow furrowed in concentration, “Perhaps the energy emitted by the being was so intense that it overwhelmed the digital recorders and the cameras, preventing them from recording anything but static but _not_ so intense that they shut down completely.”

 

“The instruments we were holding in our hands were shut down _permanently_ …” Janet reminded her.

 

“Yes,” Helen agreed somewhat absently, “That’s true enough.” She seemed lost in thought for a moment then added, “It’s also possible the light-being had no intention of being recorded for posterity....” She arched her brows at her, “It has lived for over seven hundred years in that cathedral, completely shrouded in mystery. In its place I’d probably want to prevent a recording being of me made as well.”

 

Janet sighed resignedly, “Good point.” She drained the last of her wine, “Helen, do you remember leaving the ground when the light first blew out of the Madonna?”

 

“No,” Helen frowned in concentration, “I don’t.”

 

“It was so intense,” Janet stared thoughtfully at the screen, “and in the all reports the bishop sent us… people only reported a _dim, soft glow_ coming from the Madonna … and only the receivers claimed to see that light, no one else present in the chapel ever does. None of those reports ever had anything close to the description of the blinding white light we saw and actually recorded.” She adjusted the thick robe, “At the end of our conversation with the being, that light got so bright and the heat became so intense,” she shook her head in wonderment, remembering the fear that gripped her, “I thought we were going to be incinerated.”

 

“I as well…” Helen agreed and took the small hand again, remembering the intense, searing heat.

 

“If anyone had experienced _that_ I think either the bishop or Monsieur Delagneaux would have mentioned it.” Janet added drily, “And I’m pretty sure it would have made the news.”

 

The corner of Helen’s mouth quirked in a smile; “Agreed…” and drained her wineglass, “So… perhaps we weren’t in our bodies when we spoke to the entity.”

 

“As bizarre as it sounds I’d have to agree with you.” Janet hit the play function again and interlaced her fingers with Helen’s as they watched the remainder of the recording. They watched as Janet finally eased off Helen’s lap,

 

 _“Helen? Helen, are you okay?”_

 _“I… I love you… I love you… I love you so much….”_

 _“I love you too… I love you, Helen….”_

 

They watched, minutes more passing until they saw Janet pull slowly from Helen’s shaking arms and stand, swiping the tears from her face with the back of her hand and hearing her sniff loudly as she helped Helen to her feet. They watched their images shuffle unsteadily as they retrieved their instruments from where they dropped them on the stone floor,

 

 _“I think this is broken…”_

 _“Or fried…”_

 _“Yes…”_

 

Janet rewound the recording to the beginning, “One more time,” she murmured, boosting the volume, “then let’s order dinner.” She shook her head slightly, “Because this incredibly fine and unbelievably expensive wine is going to my head….”

 

 _“Alright… it’s now eleven fifty-two… and we’re about to begin. Janet and I are here in the black Madonna’s chapel in Chartres… and the room’s EMF… is holding at a steady three point nine.”_

 _“That’s significantly higher compared to this afternoon… and the temp is a balmy fifty-four degrees…”_

 _“Not bad actually.... Okay… Salut, je m’appelle Helene et elle nom est Janette…. Nous sommes ici… at the invitation of the church and Bishop Trotteur for the singular purpose of making contact…. There are many who believe a being has… lived here in the cathedral for the past seven hundred years, living in or near the black Madonna. They are aware this being has helped many people over the centuries, and we have come to determine if you are here voluntarily….”_

 _“We have come to speak with the being that emits a glowing light and heals those who come here in search of comfort and healing… and peace….”_

 _“Are you here? If you speak and we can’t hear you these devices likely can…”_

 _“No one wants you to leave, we just want to make sure you are here by choice, and if not, we’d like to help you to go wherever you want…”_

 _“Or escape…. Whichever applies….”_

 _“The temp is now forty-eight degrees.”_

 _“The EMF is rising… it’s odd, the field seems to have a defined edge to it… every time I move it beyond a two or three foot margin it drops considerably. It’s as though the energy is coming from the Madonna in a column... towards us…”_

 _“And the temp is still dropping; forty degrees… thirty-nine…”_

 _“You’re kidding…. Amazing, I’m getting a seven point eight… point nine… eight point one...”_

 _“Helen?”_

 

They watched Helen’s image as she turned and Janet’s image pointed to the large candles mounted on the huge sconces,

 

 _“There’d have to be a pretty strong wind to make them flicker this wildly.”_

 

They watched again as Helen turned a slow three-sixty where she stood.

 

 _“Do you feel a draft strong enough to make them do that? Because I don’t…”_

 

 _“Does it seem brighter in here to you?”_

 

The brilliant light suddenly flooded from the Madonna figure and filled the room and when their bodies seemingly froze in mid air Helen advanced the recording two minutes past the static and to the point where their frozen images reappeared. Janet had boosted the volume and both women jumped slightly, startled by a muffled sound they hadn’t noticed before and she fumbled to pause the recording,

 

“What was that?” she reversed it to their reappearance then turned the volume even higher and played it again.

 

Their eyes opened wide in astonishment at the clear sound of a raspy whisper then Janet’s voice cut in,

 

 _“Helen?”_

 

They watched again as Helen’s shaking image fell to her knees with a soft cry and sobbed brokenly while Janet hurriedly stumbled to her and they huddled together on the cold stone floor and wept in each other’s arms.

 

“That sounded like talking… like speech…” Janet whispered harshly and played with the audio portion, boosting and isolating the soft whisper while Helen connected an external speaker that provided better sound production, “Alright,” she drew a deep breath, “let’s hear that again.”

 

After their figures dropped back to the stone floor both women heard what sounded like soft words and Helen shook her head in wonder and paused the recording, “I’m hearing; _Give me your pain and I will bless you.”_

 

Janet’s brows arched, “Really?” she looked at her in surprise, “I heard; _Give me your pain and I will_ release _you…_. Which do you suppose it is?”

 

Helen shrugged, “I don’t know that there’s a difference.” She replayed the audio one more time then stopped the playback. Both women sat quietly for what felt like long minutes in silence until Helen reached for Janet’s hand and pulled it to her lips then pulled the small hand inside her robe, over her breast. “I do feel as though I’ve been blessed...” she looked deeply into dark velvet brown and her voice grew thick as she forced her way around the lump in her throat, “Thank you for coming here with me…. I love you, you know…”

 

A smile spread across Janet’s face and she placed a soft kiss on Helen’s lips, “I love you Helen, being with you is my blessing.”

 

~

 

The storm grew in intensity while they dined in their formal dining room, they left their equipment set up on the far end of the long table and exchanged secret smiles when the steward automatically set their dinner at the opposite end. The power finally went out just as Janet was about to blow out the last candle,

 

“Wow…” she stood, “perfect timing…” and lifted the candlestick from the center of the table so they could light their way to bed.

 

Janet placed the lit candle on a long low gilded cabinet where they left their bags and crossed the large bedroom to light another candle on the nightstand.

 

“Dear God…”

 

She heard Helen snort softly in amusement, and turned to see her rooting through her overnight bag, “What?”

 

“Just how much sex did you think we were going to have on this trip?”

 

“Well,” Janet’s smile was both shy and sly as she crossed the room towards her, “I was hoping for as much as possible… I swear I had _no idea_ a storm would blow in and trap us here….” she purred seductively and let the robe fall from her shoulders, “And besides,” she grinned gamely, “why skimp when we don’t have to go through security?

 

Helen chuckled and pulled a large strap-on free from the tangle of sex toys, “Flying privately does have its advantages.” She agreed and knelt, prompting Janet to lean a hand on the table for support as she stepped into the harness,

 

“Yes…” her voice sounded faint as she felt her insides grow hot and tingly, “And you… did say the hotel would provide all the _uh…”_ coherent thought began to fail her as Helen slid the harness up her thighs and adjusted the straps over her hips, “shampoo and… and soaps we’d need…” A loud clap of thunder interrupted her and she licked her lips, watching as Helen caressed the large jelly dong with her cheek, nose and lips; _and blow dryers and razors…_ she finished silently, unaware she was no longer speaking aloud. “Nughhh-God!” she groaned loudly as Helen took the shaft deep in her throat. She clasped the upturned face in trembling hands and bit her lips together, trying to maintain eye contact, “Oh Helen….” she groaned.

 

Gazing up into widely dilated eyes, Helen smoothed her hands up the length of Janet’s quaking thighs and around to squeeze and massage the clenching muscled mounds, feeling her own center pound with hot demanding need. _I’m so wet for you…_ she thought, locking dark blue with widely dilated brown as Janet thrust her hips. Helen relaxed her throat, privately delighting in the rising moans and sighs that escaped Janet’s lips, her nose twitching at the scent of wet sexual heat now pounding between her legs. She knew Janet loved watching her perform fellatio and she took the jelly dong deep in her throat until the harness bumped into her lips.

 

 _“Oh my sweet Jesus…”_ Janet hissed, slowly pumping the shaft, _“please let me fuck you...”_ she begged in a tight whisper.

 

Helen shed her robe, letting it pool around her on the floor then pulled the long cock wetly from her mouth.

 

She rose and Janet urged her to bend over the low cabinet and teased the dark opening with the head of the heavy jelly toy. Her nostrils flared at Helen’s answering moan and musky sexual scent and she worked the length inside, her eyelids fluttering and her face twisting into a mask of agonized pleasure at Helen’s low moans of pleasure.

 

Helen’s eyes squeezed shut and she arched stiffly, willing her body to accept the toy as quickly and as fully as possible, _“Oh yes….”_ she hissed, _“oh it feels so good when you fill me.”_

 

Lightning flashed outside the tall windows, reminding Janet of the raging storm, “Oh Helen…” she whimpered, slowly thrusting the large phallus, “Oh Helen…” was all she could manage, her hands smoothing over Helen’s hips as she withdrew and gripping them again when she thrust back inside. She maintained a leisurely pace, her mouth watering at the delicious sounds of wet coming from the jelly phallus as she pumped it inside Helen’s body. She hummed and grunted and sighed in concert with Helen’s low moans of pleasure as the storm intensified and the claps of thunder sounded louder and closer. After a few minutes her breath became more labored as Helen moved and moaned beneath her. She gazed lovingly at her beautiful form in the candlelight when a bright flash of lightening suddenly illuminated their room and Janet’s eyes widened when the marks on Helen’s back were starkly illuminated.

 

Janet’s eyes brimmed as she continued to pump the shaft in her depths. She had seen the scars thousands of times, but they still moved her to tears and she blinked them away, swallowing the lump from her throat and gripped the undulating hips, preventing herself from touching and tracing their ragged outlines. _You have come so far my love…_ a strangled cry escaped her lips and she thrust with renewed vigor, _whether in spite of or perhaps because of the suffering you’ve endured._ Another flash of lightning lit up their suite and she squeezed her eyes tightly closed in concentration.

 

 _“Janet…”_ Helen rasped, _“harder, my love…”_

 

A loud rumbling clap of thunder drowned out her words and Janet waited until only the sound of buffeting wind and driving rain remained before she pulled the cock free, “Turn around.” She pulled her from the cabinet, dimly aware she had to raise her voice to be heard over the violence of the storm.

 

Helen quickly turned and sat, leaning back on her elbows and spread her bent legs wide and Janet hurried to slide the jelly dong deep until the harness smacked loudly against Helen’s opening and both women moaned aloud.

 

Leaning one hand on the table, Janet pumped the shaft as hard as she could while her other hand furiously rubbed Helen’s wide swollen and rigid clitoris. Helen’s face twisted in a mask of ecstasy and she gripped a heaving breast in her hand and angled it towards Janet’s mouth, grunting in offering.

 

Janet lowered herself over Helen’s prone form, changing the angle of her thrusts and greedily sucked the rock-hard structure in her mouth and bit down on the nipple, making Helen cry out,

 

 _“Oh god… oh god yes!”_

 

Janet growled around the flesh and grunted satisfaction when she felt Helen arch stiffly beneath her and cry out; forceful grunting and keening cries tearing from her while she ejaculated and the orgasm shook her convulsing form.

 

Tears streamed down Janet’s face at the beauty of Helen’s orgasm and her heart swelled watching how her body trembled and arched and strained to meet and receive each thrust while she climaxed. The exquisite sounds of Helen’s complete and utter surrender; the whimpering gasps and keening grunts and sobs amid the crash of the raging storm pushed Janet over the edge and she released the breast in her mouth and laughed and wept as she struggled to sustain Helen’s orgasm for as long as the waves continued to crash over her.

 

“That’s it…” she murmured tearfully, “that’s it… come hard.”

 

When the waves and jerks and spasms gradually slowed in Helen’s body Janet slowed the speed and intensity of her thrusting hips and cock accordingly. She held the jelly toy deep inside and scooped at the cum and ejaculate that had pooled between them and let her eyes drift closed at the exquisite taste on her tongue. Helen sagged on the cabinet, her legs still spread limply but when Janet’s hand returned between her legs for more cum she pressed the questing fingers against her still quaking clitoris and groaned. Janet’s eyes snapped open and Helen rubbed the small elegant fingertips firmly on the soaked, softening flesh then pulled them to her lips and inside her mouth.

 

Janet gasped softly at the feel of Helen’s tongue licking her fingers clean and when she pulled them from her mouth she fumbled briefly with the straps on the harness. She unbuckled them and knelt at Helen’s center, feasting on the abundant dripping cum as she slowly pulled the cock free.

 

 _“Oh god…”_ Helen rasped, her eyes slamming shut as she furiously rubbed her large clit and came again, this time bringing her knees to her chest as she ejaculated into Janet’s feasting mouth.

 

***

 

 _“Mmmph…”_ Kathleen blinked sleepily, _“Are you going to watch me sleep all night?’_ she mumbled in a low whisper.

 

“Probably not…” Aeryn smiled in the dark, “I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

 

Kathleen hummed low in her chest and crawled into her arms, “I’m okay…” she sighed and nuzzled her breasts, “I love and adore you, you know…” she laid her cheek on a full breast so she could look at her, “I knew letting you tie me up and whip me would deepen our bond…” She sighed and shrugged one-sided, “But you were right… old feelings came up that I never would have consciously conjured on my own.”

 

“Like what?”

 

“When you were spanking me my ass burned and stung so much that I suddenly saw my parents… I mean,” she quickly corrected herself; “I suddenly remembered how my parents looked at me when I came out to them… I hadn’t thought about that in years…. They were so disappointed in my _life choice_.”

 

“Oh dear…” Aeryn muttered sympathetically, “Your _life choice_?”

 

“Oh yes,” Kathleen sighed, playing with one of Aeryn’s nipples, watching idly as the soft structure slowly stiffened under her fondling fingertips. “But then, they were older… and explaining my homosexuality was no more a life choice than their heterosexuality was, fell, unsurprisingly, on absolutely deaf ears…” she cupped the breast and looked at her. “Our relationship has been different, difficult and… strained ever since.”

 

“And I thought your mother loved me.” Aeryn mock pouted, making Kathleen grin up at her,

 

“Oh she does, she just wishes we were _just friends_ …”

 

“As in _roommates_?”

 

“Yes, _Roomie_ …” Kathleen smiled and turned to kiss and suckle Aeryn’s other nipple.

 

 _“Ah... yessss…”_ Aeryn let her eyes drift closed.

 

“So my first experience at bondage and whipping was indeed quite cathartic.” Kathleen slid off her and up the bed until she could rest her head on the pillow next to her, “So when will you train me in the art of whipping and flogging so you can experience that too?”

 

Aeryn’s eyes popped open and she turned to face her, “What?”

 

“You wanted me to experience catharsis, and you seemed moved when I did… but what’s preventing you from wanting that too?”

 

“Is that really something you want to do?” Aeryn asked; reaching for her hand and pulling it back over her breast.

 

“Of course…” Kathleen’s smile was bright in the dark, “I love you, and I also think our relationship would benefit and our love would deepen even further if you allowed yourself to be the bottom every so often.”

 

Aeryn’s smile was crooked, “Are you tiring of being the bottom all the time?”

 

“Make no mistake Aeryn Sun,” Kathleen squeezed her breast, “I love surrendering myself to you… and spreading my legs for you….” she said, sounding sincere, “It’s not a question of equality, but of balance…” She slid closer and nuzzled the soft skin on Aeryn’s neck, “And I really want you to know how wonderful it can feel to kneel on all fours and let me fuck your pussy with a strap-on…” she murmured silkily, and licked the rim of Aeryn’s beautifully sculpted ear.

 

 _“Ohhhh…”_ Aeryn said softly, sounding breathless, _“_ uh… ‘kay, that sounds… that sounds… lovely.”

 

***

 

They lay inverted on the wide bed, the storm was slowly subsiding and the only sound was the splatter of steady rain. Their only source of illumination was the soft glow of candlelight and Helen pressed her lips into Janet’s soft labia while her fingertips stoked the neatly trimmed curls,

 

“Why do you keep them trimmed so short now?” Helen asked, petting the soft mound and felt Janet snicker softly between her legs,

 

“Well,” Janet’s eyes were closed and she rubbed her nose and chin in the soft thatch of Helen’s dark blond curls, “if you’ll recall I was only thirty when I stated to find gray down there…. And over time, the grayer they got the shorter I trimmed them.” They fell silent, listening to the rain and enjoying their lingering sexual smells. “Remember when I asked you to shave me?” she mumbled contentedly.

 

“Mmm-yes, I do.” Helen sighed, still stroking her, “I did enjoy that.”

 

Janet smiled, “Yes, as I recall you spent a great deal of time cupping me after that…” she snorted softly, her grin widening when she felt/heard Helen chuckle in reply,

 

“Yes, I believe my repeatedly pulling you into the toilet so I could bury my hand between your legs boarded on the inappropriate.”

 

“Mmm, yes,” Janet concurred, “Absolutely inappropriate... it was wonderful.” Helen laughed,

 

“I couldn’t help myself,” she murmured, “It was so soft.”

 

 Janet’s brow knitted thoughtfully over her closed eyes, “Maybe I should just have you laser it off at this point.”

 

“Or I could just shave you again,” Helen placed a kiss on the mound and slowly extricated herself, “However I love the curls on your pubic mound no matter what color they are.

 

~

 

Janet sat at a slight angle on the end of the marble countertop, leaning back on her hands while one foot rested on the toilet tank and the other on the counter, her legs spread wide while Helen sat on the toilet and shaved her. The smile never left her face, watching Helen’s brow furrow while she attended to her task. The hotel did indeed provide all the toiletries that one could ever need and she was relaxed in spite of the feelings of deep arousal she felt from Helen using a disposable razor to shave away both her pubic hair and the thick creamy shaving cream she had slathered over her mons and down, over her perineum and anus.

 

The electricity had come back on while they made love, and Janet felt quite comfortable on her perch on the marble countertop while she moaned and sighed softly at the feel of Helen’s hands and breath on her freshly bared skin.

 

“How’s your arm holding up through all this?” Janet asked genuinely, if a little dreamily.

 

Helen leaned back and flexed her wrist experimentally, wagging the disposable razor in the air, “Quite well, actually....” she murmured, returning to her task, “Still okay?’ she inquired with equal courtesy and Janet grinned,

 

“Oh I am way past okay…” she nodded, making Helen chuckle softly, “Between this and what we experienced at Chartres…” her expression turned earnest, “I feel like we could write a book now on the nature of spirituality and healing.” she murmured.

 

Helen drew a deep, careful breath as she worked, “Yes… but it would likely have a beginning, middle, and no end…” she stole a look at her as she cleaned the razor and shrugged.

 

“I guess that’s true enough…” Janet agreed, “like writing about the nature of love.” She regarded the disappearing pubic hair and shaving cream and her emerging, denuded mound and added, “So we can add Chartres to the list of religious places where we’ve had sex.” Helen only snorted and she continued, “Although having sex in that Buddhist temple in Nepal had to be one of the more intense.”

 

Helen’s brows bobbed in agreement, “Not surprising considering we were having sex right above that massive bronze dome bell…”

 

“And right when they were striking it with that huge log on ropes…” Janet shook her head at the memory, “I thought for sure that intense vibration was going to make my vagina explode.” she added, making Helen  chuckle, “When you make me come that hard I always think; that’s it, she’ll never make me come any harder ever again…” Helen looked up at her with increasingly dilated pupils and her voice dropped to a sultry murmur, “But you always do…”

 

When Helen finished she carefully wiped her clean from navel to anus and held a slender thigh in one hand as she leaned to nuzzle the soft, denuded mound,

 

 _“Oh Janet,”_ she whispered, _“you feel so soft.”_ She placed a worshipful kiss on the open pudendal cleft and rose, placing an equally reverent kiss on Janet’s mouth, “Ready for the enema?”

 

Janet clutched briefly at the lips that covered her mouth, “”Yes…” she whispered and sliding from the counter, grabbed the box of disposable enemas she had found in one of the cupboards that contained personal lubricant and condoms and dental dams. _She wasn’t kidding when she said they try to think of everything here…._ Her grin was decidedly feral as she opened the box, noting with approval that the hotel stocked their room with a brand of enema that contained not just purified water and sodium chloride, but nearly as much Aloe Barbadensis leaf juice as well, _This should feel wonderful._ She noted privately and removed the cap from the nozzle, careful not to disturb the lubricant coating the end. She handed it to Helen and turned, bending over the counter; she was smiling when she felt Helen insert the tip and pushed gently.

 

She was careful to point the tip towards Janet’s navel and gently squeezed the bulb, slowly dispensing the fluid inside. She knew from previous experience that Janet could take all the solution and steadily squeezed the bulb until it was empty before pulling it free, the fingers on her free hand holding the puckered opening closed while Janet stood.

 

Janet unconsciously held her breath; while she loved the feeling of the cool soothing liquid inside her she always felt some anxiety that she wouldn’t be able to hold it within and Helen knew it and pulled her into her arms, kissing her. Janet melted into the embrace; the feel of Helen’s tongue in her mouth was exquisite and was somehow not unlike the silky smooth fluid feeling inside her rear channel. She moaned at the contradictory sensations of having to clench her backside to keep the enema solution inside and yet feeling as though the soothing liquid inside her and Helen’s equally fluid kiss was making her sublimely boneless.

 

Helen held the trembling petite form firmly against her and kissed her with growing ardor until Janet finally pulled her mouth away and whispered breathlessly,

 

 _“I can’t hold it anymore…”_

 

They stood in front of the toilet and Helen held onto her until she sat on the toilet and shuddering uncontrollably, immediately evacuated her bladder and bowels. Her smile was beatific when Janet slumped forward and buried her face in her thatch of dark blond, groaning and sighing deeply in relief. She stroked Janet’s short, highlighted blond hair, petting it until the urge to bear down finally left Janet’s body and she began tonguing the hooded clit that protruded from Helen’s vulva.

 

“Oh no…” she chuckled softly, backing away, “not yet.” She grabbed some toilet paper and cleaned between Janet’s legs, “I’ll finish getting ready while you use the bidet.” She kissed her again and went back into the bedroom.

 

Janet crossed the spacious room to the bidet and adjusted the temperature and height of the water that streamed up from the bottom of the basin until it burbled just above the rim. She straddled the ornately gilded porcelain structure, sitting on the cool narrow-rimmed seat, _My god this is ridiculously fancy compared to the one we have at home_ , she thought and shifted her position slightly until she could feel the warm stream inside her vagina.

 

A French invention from the 17th century, the bidet was designed to clean the genitalia internally as well as externally and Janet let her eyes drift closed, enjoying the feel of the warm water for a long minute until she shifted again, positioning her anus over the stream and felt her inner muscles relax even further. The warm water felt like a caress in her rear channel and a soft sigh escaped her parted lips. Reluctantly, after another long minute she shifted again, this time positioning her clitoris over the warm stream until she felt her clit and inner folds thicken and engorge in arousal at both the sensations and in anticipation of the lovemaking to come.

 

She finally turned off the water and grabbed a towel, quickly drying between her legs and turning off the light, returned to the bedroom, her breath catching when she saw Helen’s profile in candlelight, adjusting the straps on the custom-made hardness. She could see she had pulled the bedcovers down to the foot of the bed and only a large pillow lay in its middle, covered by a thick towel from the bathroom. She knew what was coming and she trembled in anticipation, smiling at the increased sensation of warm wet that filled between her legs and stiffened her clit,

 

“Where do you want me?”

 

“Facedown.” Helen instructed and Janet climbed onto the enormous bed, positioning her pelvis over the towel-covered pillow, her pert bottom perched in the air.

 

Helen could feel her mouth water and she swallowed as she crawled across the mattress and between Janet’s spread legs. Her fine sense of smell could detect and easily tell the difference between their sexual scents that filled the room and she lay on the smooth sheet, her tongue protruding slightly from parted lips as she softly nuzzled and caressed the ultra-soft skin of Janet’s puckered rear opening. She was barely aware of Janet’s low, answering moans as she flicked the tip of her tongue over the rim, softened by shaving cream and lubricating enema solution and the warm massaging water from the bidet. She pressed her tongue deep inside, stroking and caressing the soft relenting channel for long minutes until Janet’s rising cries forced her away, _Not yet…_

 

She pressed her hands against the muscled backside and inner thighs, urging the legs farther apart, further opening Janet’s length to her. A soft sound escaped her, looking at the denuded velvety flesh and the flood of creamy nectar that quivered in the puffy opening.

 

 _“Oh please, Helen…”_ Janet gripped at the smooth fabric beneath her, _“please don’t tease me…”_

 

Helen placed a kiss against her perineum, laving it thickly with her tongue, “ _On your back now…”_ she panted quietly, sounding breathless.

 

Janet hurried to comply, following Helen’s guiding hands that positioned her backside on the pillow and spread her legs wide. Helen’s expression was both transcendently peaceful and feral as she pushed on the underside of the silky soft thighs until Janet tilted her pelvis upward on the pillow and revealed both openings. Helen gripped both silicone phalluses in her hand and palmed the bottom shaft. Janet liked hard thrusting but the length of her vagina mirrored her petite stature and early in the relationship, Helen made a double dong strap-on, handcrafting two silicone phalluses, one short enough not to bang into Janet’s tender cervix with hard thrusting and of a circumference that provided a sensation of being filled to capacity but not beyond it. The other phallus she made longer and more slender, more suitable as an anal toy then attached both to a base that swiveled one hundred-eighty degrees on a modified harness so she could take Janet from either the front or the rear.

 

She guided the anal shaft into Janet’s cream-filled center and stroked as much of the length inside as the shorter passage would allow. Licking her lips and swallowing at the sight of the shorter, thicker shaft riding on Janet’s smooth hairless mound.

 

Janet emitted small keening cries and arched her pelvis, spreading her legs even wider on the mattress at the feel of the smooth shaft moving within and the other rubbing her denuded mons pubis. _“Oh yesss…”_ she moaned deep in her throat, _“Oh it’s good...”_ she rasped, _“its’ so fucking good Helen.”_ She begged, _“Don’t stop….”_

 

Helen slowly withdrew, watching as the cream coated shaft emerged, the thick layer of creamy cum glistening in the candlelight. Without looking, she grabbed the tube of lubricant from where she left it on the mattress and flipping open the cap, squeezed some onto Janet’s slightly open anus, smiling wickedly when Janet moaned in pleasure at the cool sensation. She flipped the cap closed and tossed it to one side in one fluid motion and holding the upper dildo aloft, pressed the tip on the cum-coated anal toy inside the puckered opening and worked the length inside, placing the tip of the shorter cock into Janet’s still flooded center and slowly pushed the toys inside the twin channels.

 

Janet felt the heavy pulse of pleasure and a rush of heat emanate from deep inside and flow over her entire body at the feel of the shorter, thicker toy filling her center and the longer reach of the anal toy probing her deeply and her moans were long and loud, _“Oh god... Helen…”_ she cried, panting, _“Oh Helen!”_

 

Still on all fours, Helen looked down at her with pure love as she thrust the double shafts. Small cries of joy and passion escaped her and were lost amid the sounds of wet coming from between their legs and the wind and rain that still buffeted the tall windows. She slowly lowered onto Janet’s heaving form and slid her hands under the narrow shoulders; gripping them, she increased the strength and vigor of her thrusts until she drove the double dongs as deep and as hard as she could. Her eyes squeezed closed at the feel of Janet’s overheated, slick skin against hers and she reveled in the closeness of their bodies locked so tightly together as she banged her pelvis against her, delighting in the sound of the harness as it smacked sharply against Janet’s perineum. She grunted with effort and rising ecstasy as Janet’s grunts and keening whimpers became shouts and cries of a massive orgasm on rapid approach and she pumped and thrust the toys faster and harder than she thought possible,

 

 _“OH GOD, HELEN!”_ she shouted, _“HELEN I’M COMING! FUCK ME! FUCK ME! FUCK ME! I’M COMING! I’M COMINGI’M COMINGI’MCOMING-NUGH!”_ she screamed long and hard and her body undulated and shook and trembled violently beneath her, rigidly convulsing in rapture as her urethral sponge exploded and she screamed in release.

 

Helen continued to pump hard until Janet’s screams became sobs and the rigid jerking convulsions slowed to shuddering quakes and tremors before she stilled the toys, keeping them both buried deep inside. Still the gripping the small shoulders she pressed her damp forehead against Janet’s and shared her breath while they both loudly gasped and panted in the aftermath. Long minutes passed until Janet’s senses returned to her and she pulled Helen’s mouth to hers for a long embrace. Her tongue delved inside, entwining with Helen’s and they kissed until both women whimpered and moaned in surrender.

 

 _“Oh thank you my love…”_ Janet whispered, her voice breaking,

 

Helen looked at her with watery blue eyes, _“I love you…”_ she whispered tremulously and keeping her eyes locked on Janet’s, slowly got back on all fours and wetly pulled the silicone cocks from her.

 

Janet emitted a soft sound that was half sob half moan at the loss of the dildos inside her, but she never broke contact with Helen’s gaze until she had pulled free and turned from the bed. Only then did she let her eyes slam closed while she savored the sensations that lingered between her legs and deep inside her body.

 

 _Only Helen Magnus…_ a weary voice echoed in a distant corner of her mind, _only Helen Magnus can make me feel this way._

 

Retreating to the bathroom, Helen shakily unbuckled the straps and pulling the harness from her hips, immediately brought the dong that had been inside Janet’s vagina to her lips and sucked the entire cum-coated length in her mouth, her eyelids fluttering closed at the exquisite flavor. _Only Janet Fraiser…_ she thought wearily, _only Janet Fraiser can make me feel this way…._

                                                                                             

~

 

When Helen returned to the bed she brought a dampened washcloth with her and gently cleaned Janet’s openings until a small hand took it from her,

 

“Time for bed…” Janet told her firmly, urging her onto the pillow and pulled the covers over them both. Entwining arms and legs, they settled against one another, Janet tucked snugly against Helen’s neck.

 

“The candles of Chartres can never compare to the hand-crafted silicone of Helen Magnus…” Janet mumbled, smiling when she felt Helen pull her even closer.

 

Minutes passed in contented silence until Janet heard Helen’s soft whisper,

 

“We completely forgot to ask the being why it’s been appearing more often…”

 

“Hmm?” Janet asked, sounding sleepy.

 

“Well,” Helen yawned, “reports of people experiencing the light and healing from the Madonna has always been sporadic over the past seven hundred years until recently… that is why we came here in the first place…. We forgot to ask why the light being has been making more frequent contact.” She asked in a quiet voice, “Why now?”

 

“Maybe the times have prompted more people to come, encouraging more contact.”

 

“But difficult times come and go…” Helen argued quietly, “the records have been meticulously kept over hundreds of years and they all indicate the rates of contact have never been this high…”

 

“Perhaps the light-being’s sole purpose was to lure us here so we could be healed.”

 

“Oh, my,” Helen scoffed gently, _“lofty….”_

 

“Well,” Janet drew a deep breath, “I think it’s possible,” she placed a wet kiss against the soft skin of Helen’s neck, “in all those reports no one ever described having an experience with the being as intense as ours….  In any event,” she continued behind contentedly closed eyes, “it’s not like we remembered to ask, so I guess we’ll never know.”

 

“That’s true enough.” Helen chuckled, “It’ll be interesting to see if the reports decrease after this.”

 

They fell silent for long minutes until Janet said,

 

“You know…” she sighed, “I do feel… lighter, I guess, since our experience in Chartes…. I did feel weighted down from the guilt of the past several years… like such a failure… like I failed everyone when I was electrocuted and then…”

 

“That was _not_ your fault...” Helen rose onto an elbow and looked down at her, _“Janet, that was not your fault, it was_ my _fault….”_

 

“My getting electrocuted by that abnormal was no one’s fault, Helen…” she drew soft fingertips  over a high cheekbone and down the strong jawline, “not even the abnormal’s, it was just something that happened, but I was convinced it was my fault…. That I drove you away, and made Ashley so angry… when it was our own fears that set those events into motion and separated us.” Her eyes turned dark in the fading flickering candlelight, “But I still can’t help but wonder, Helen, if I hadn’t been hit by that surge of electricity… if I had never been in that coma… would Ashley be dead now?”

 

“How would we ever know?” Helen shrugged, “How can we ever quantify what effect one action can have on another? Had we never been separated isn’t it possible she might have still… died….” Helen shook her head, “I don’t know if life is random… I don’t know if it’s destined, or neither or both.”

 

“But how do we move on?” Janet looked at her with brimming eyes, “How do we incorporate the death of our child in our lives and our relationship… and ourselves…” she gulped, her voice breaking, “and the world around us and still have happy days?” A tear slipped from Helen’s eye and Janet smoothed it from her cheek, “Can we still laugh and not feel guilt or sadness every time because she’s not here to laugh with us anymore?” her voice broke and her chin quivered, “Would Ashley want that for us?”

 

“I think,” tears spilled from Helen’s eyes seeing the pain in Janet’s, “Ashley wants us to be happy.” Janet sniffed and Helen pulled the small hand to her lips, kissing the palm, “Do you know,” she sniffed and cleared her throat, “since our experience in the chapel I have not had a single nightmare?” She shrugged, “I know we’ve only had naps here and in the concierge’s room in Chartres, but still,” her brows arched perplexingly, “I’ve slept deeply and I haven’t once relived when… when…”

 

“When Ashley died.” Janet finished, brushing tears and the long dark tresses from her face.

 

“I must really have given the light-being my pain in exchange for a blessing…” she sighed and lay back down on the pillow and sniffed again, her nose inches from Janet’s, “After Ashley’s memorial…” She pulled the hand she held between her breasts, “when I… was alone I stood at her empty casket…” her voice quavered and her lips and chin trembled, “I couldn’t stop crying…” More tears spilled from Janet’s eyes and she squeezed the hands that held her, “I couldn’t stop and suddenly I could hear her voice.”

 

“Ashley?”

 

Helen sniffed, nodding, smiling in spite of the tears that slid from her eyes, “I turned around, and there she was…” her eyes closed at the memory and she cried quietly, “I… I could see her, standing there and she said; _Nos must amitto vivo en….”_

 

“We must let go,” Janet repeated in English. “to live on...”

 

“Yes…” Helen nodded, “She was so beautiful… smiling… and I said… I said I could not…” her eyes closed again at the memory, “but she said I had to… she said I’d never be without her, and that she knew I loved her….” Helen’s voice faded and she drew a shuddering breath and sniffed as more tears dripped from her eyes, “But she said you loved me too…” she looked at her, her eyes piercing, “and she said, most correctly, that I’d never stopped loving you… so I had to stop being afraid and bring you back into my life.” Her throat twisted closed, “She said we belong together _…_ in the haven of each other’s hearts.” She struggled to form the words, _“And she was right.”_ Her eyes squeezed shut and she curled fetally against Janet’s petite form and wept.

 

Janet held her tightly against her, crying softly for long minutes while Helen sobbed, and after minutes passed, she sniffed and her brows knitted over her closed eyes. As her own and Helen’s tears slowed, she could swear there was a transformation of the energy in their bodies; _This feels strange…_ She passed her hands over Helen’s hair, stroking it. _Not strange…_ she amended, _she feels…._ Her hand trailed down over Helen’s broad shoulder and down her arm, _I can’t put my finger on it but she feels different…._ She smoothed the tears from Helen’s face and tilted her chin for a gentle kiss. _I feel different too…._ she realized, gently caressing Helen’s soft lips as she became more responsive to the embrace, _Maybe_ this _is what real healing feels like._

 

Long minutes passed as they held one another and kissed until finally Janet shifted her head back on the pillow and murmured, _“Then let’s honor her, my love,”_ she whispered thickly _, “let’s honor her by being happy together… for however long we have left in our lives.”_

 

Looking into fathomless brown eyes, Helen smiled tremulously with red-rimmed blue, “Agreed…” she whispered and kissed her again.

 

“Mmph...” Janet’s eyelids fluttered at the ardor of Helen’s kiss and opened her mouth, inviting her tongue inside. She suckled on the skilled muscled organ until a small whimper of desire escaped her and her hands pulled at Helen’s rapidly heating form.

 

Wordless, Helen rolled on top of her, trapping a slender thigh between her own and, still kissing her deeply, began grinding her demanding center on the smooth limb. Her hips undulated with greater abandon as she spread the wet heat, slicking Janet’s soft skin until she tore her mouth away and panted raggedly.

 

“That’s it…” Janet rasped, clutching Helen’s taut distended breasts, “It’s time…” she whispered, smiling at her soft grunts and moans, “it’s your turn now…”

 

Helen’s hips soon bucked and undulated wildly as she wetly humped her thigh, and when her body arched and trembled rigidly, she looked down into Janet’s eyes and shouted her release as thick syrupy clear ejaculate exploding onto creamy cum and Janet’s soft skin.

 

As the orgasm faded, Helen continued to stiffly grind and undulate but her eyes stayed locked on Janet’s; no more words were necessary, and long minutes passed as their connected eyes and hands and bodies communicated in the only universal language that had ever existed; the language of love.

 

~

 

Their plane left Paris in the afternoon two days later, flying towards the sun and into time itself, arriving at the sanctuary in the early morning. Will and the others were just beginning their day and Helen promised to tell him of their successful contact with a new, however still unknown species that afternoon. Holding hands, Helen and Janet headed for the elevator and retreated to their room, their overnight bags slung over their shoulders.

 

Comfortable and content in each other’s presence they stood together in companionable silence at the wide window in their office and Helen pulled Janet’s hand over her heart and encircled the slim waist, holding her close as they gazed out at the newly risen sun,

 

“Mmm,” Janet sighed, “it’s going to be a beautiful day…”

 

“Absolutely…” Helen murmured, her brow furrowing in concentration, “Janet…” she turned her in the circle of her arms, “I was thinking on the plane…”

 

“Really?” Janet’s brows arched in disbelief, “You could’ve fooled me considering how much of that trip you spent with your hand down my pants...” she teased drolly, pressing provocatively close.

 

An impish smile crossed Helen’s lips, “I can’t help it I’m afraid….” she sounded unapologetic, “It is simply too soft and I felt it my duty to keep it warm…” She tried to sound sincere as she pulled the petite form closer and unbuttoned and unzipped the fly on Janet’s jeans while she spoke, sliding her hand inside and cupping the soft, nude mound.

 

Janet’s eyes fluttered closed and she moaned softly, “See?” she mumbled in surrender, “I’m so glad I packed extra panties…” she clutched at the wrist and leaned her weight against her. She felt her ardor rise both at the hand that cupped and firmly massaged her mound and the memory of Helen pulling her onto her lap on the plane and performing the same ministrations until Janet became hopelessly aroused and came abruptly in her hand, not once but several times during the long flight. _“Helen…”_ she begged.

 

Helen’s grin was feral, “You know my best ideas come to me while fondling you….” she teased, “They always come to me while I am employed in the service of making you come.” Janet moaned and slumped further against her,

 

“We…” she panted, “we should have breakfast first…”

 

“Mmm hmm,” Helen concurred, if absently, as she stroked the soft flesh, “I think you should come first then I should spend some time in the library…”

 

“Oh god…” Janet ground softly against the hand, “you’re kidding.”

 

Helen’s feral grin became decidedly lopsided, “Our experience with the being in Chartres reminded me there may have been an ancient culture that claimed to have found a way to shorten time, to manipulate it… I could swear I read that somewhere….”

 

Janet’s brows furrowed and holding the hand firmly between her legs, leaned back far enough to look up intently into Helen’s eyes, “ _Shorten_ time?” she repeated, disbelieving.

 

“The Mayan kings were abnormals who aged very slowly, like I do, I think I remember reading somewhere they may have developed an elixir capable of giving them a normal human lifespan.”

 

“And?”

 

“It might be worth looking into if I can find a cure for my longevity…”

 

Janet’s eyes narrowed slightly and she placed her free hand softly on Helen’s cheek, “Alright…” she agreed and pulled her down for a kiss.

 

“For I want to grow old with you...” Helen murmured softly and kissed her again, smoothing her hand over the small smooth mound and further between Janet’s legs, making her moan in her mouth.

 

 _“Oh god…”_ Janet panted quietly, “Alright but… breakfast… first,” Helen gripped her mound and slid a finger between her sodden folds and she cried out, _“Oh god! I mean…”_ she rasped, breathless, _“I mean… we’ll have sex first,_ then _breakfast,”_ she gripped Helen’s clothes in tight fists and glared sternly up at her, “then _nap_ till lunch…” Her eyes slammed tightly closed and she grunted when Helen firmly stroked the tip her finger against her throbbing clitoris, _“Jesus, Helen…”_ she begged, _“I’m not kidding…”_ she grunted and undulated shamelessly against the hand in her pants, “ _then lunch_ … then you can bury yourself in books about the goddam Mayan kings all you want until… _ughn!”_ She grunted, panting, “until dinner time.”

  
“Agreed, Janet Fraiser …” Helen grinned down at her, clearly satisfied and tightened the arm around her, “because you are all I will ever need to feel complete and whole for the rest of my days…” She pressed a sweet kiss against trembling lips, “Loving you is all the blessing I will ever require.”

 

“Then let me kiss you again, Helen Magnus…” Janet whispered breathlessly, “and I’ll a blessing beg of you….”


End file.
